


Wildflower

by chains_archivist



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Boys in Chains, Lemon, M/M, Non-consensual sex, Slaves, Violence, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-15
Updated: 2015-03-15
Packaged: 2018-03-17 21:49:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 22
Words: 39,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3544991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chains_archivist/pseuds/chains_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>By Becca Abbot</p><p>It's two years after Endless Waltz and Duo Maxwell is in big trouble. But who should he fear the most? The sadistic vice-lord into whose hands he's fallen or the man's most deadly assassin, Heero Yuy?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Dusk, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [Boys in Chains](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Boys_in_Chains), which opened in 2000 as a multifandom archive for both fiction and art, but then sadly went offline in 2005. To bring the archive back, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in December 2014. Open Doors [posted an announcement](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/1832) and e-mailed all creators about the move, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please [contact the Open Doors committee](http://transformativeworks.org/contact/open%20doors).
> 
> =
> 
> Original Notes:  
> Gundam Wing doesn't belong to me, but to Bandai/Sunrise/whoever. No copyright infringement intended. (Yaoi, 1x2, lemon, rape, adventure, angst, violence and romance). The story takes place two years after Endless Waltz. Thanks go to Liv who kindly plowed through the first draft and offered some very helpful suggestions.

He was being followed.

The boy slid his hand into his coat, slim fingers wrapping around the piece of pipe stuck in his belt. He kept walking, not looking back, glancing only infrequently at the security mirrors that were placed at intervals along the narrow, dirty corridor. Most were broken or defaced, but those that still functioned showed the same rat-faced man behind him.

Mouth dry, heart pounding, the youth quickened his pace. He ran desperately through his mental map of Zoe Mining Station, its maze of service tunnels, catwalks and no-grav zones. He'd be damned if he would be anyone's party favor, thank you.

Small, slight and, beneath the grime and sullen glare, astonishingly pretty, the boy was a frequent target of station rape gangs. He was tough in spite of his size and rarely taken. Every once in a while, however, they were too many or he was careless. So far, he'd survived those harrowing encounters. He knew his luck wouldn't last forever.

Zoe was the absolute armpit of the universe, a deathtrap of suddenly failing seals and environmental controls. Only the most desperate came here, out on the very edge of civilization. Some came to eke out a miserable hand-to-mouth existence in the refinery. Others were simply washed up like debris on Zoe's bleak metal shore, twice as dangerous for having nowhere else to go.

Ahead and around a corner was a service corridor. It led to an air purification facility that had long ago failed. An old claw-lifter blocked the entrance. Once out of sight of his pursuer, the boy quickly slid around the rusting hulk, barely able to fit his slim body through the narrow space. He rested his head against the machine, waiting for his racing heart to slow, praying that they didn't know about this corridor, whoever they were, and that they would hurry on past and leave him be.

A hand locked around his braid. The boy nearly jumped out of his skin. He spun about, twisting from that grip and hurled himself, shoulder first into the shadowy bulk of his attacker. There was an "oof" and a pithy curse. 

He yanked his pipe from his belt. It was dark, little light making it past the lifter. The boy realized he was surrounded. With all his strength, he lashed out and caught someone a glancing blow. A howl of pain rose and a shadow was gone, but there were more! Who were these guys?

He fought, doing far more damage than his size warranted. Usually that was enough to send the cowardly bastards screeching in all directions, but not tonight. It came to him then that these were not Zoe's usual variety of thugs. He was in very deep trouble. 

The blows came from all sides, but he barely heeded them. Doggedly, he defending himself, trying to work his way past them and into the relative safety of the old plant. Then someone's truncheon got through, landing hard between his shoulder blades. He stumbled, falling, rolling frantically. Recovering at once, he was up, pushing past two more bodies. The way was suddenly clear in front of him. He staggered, caught his balance and ran. 

Too late, the boy heard the faint whine of an energy weapon powering up. Part of him cursed the fool for using something like that here, where a ruptured hull would cause disaster to more than just himself. An instant later, pain streaked up his leg, a firestorm of it. He went hard to hands and knees on the icy metal decking -- heard the pounding of feet behind him. They kicked his pipe out of reach, raining blows and profanity on him. After that, mercifully, everything went dark.


	2. Part 1

The little girl was dying. She lay in the abandoned apartment among the refuse of other transients, looking up into the moisture-stained ceiling. In the distance, she could hear SB shouting at Lioh. Lioh wanted to have her coat when she was dead. SB was telling him he was an asshole. She smiled faintly and, for a moment, was very sad. Like herself, they were street kids. She did not want to leave them. They all needed each other.   
  
The girl vaguely remembered parents, smiling faces and gentle voices. Sometimes, she thought they were a dream. She remembered other things, too, stories that were fragments of that life. Her thoughts were dimming. Some half-forgotten words came to her. Her small blue lips moved:   
  
_Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray to God my soul to keep_  
And if I die before I wake, I pray to God my soul to take..  
  
They were magic words. The little girl's eyes were suddenly filled with white light, and the terrible cold that had been stealing over her limbs vanished. Blissful warmth enveloped her. She saw an angel, bright and beautiful, eyes filled with gentle sorrow. The little girl smiled joyfully and was taken up into that loving embrace.  
  
****  
  
Black hair, golden skin, gaze as blue and darkly unforgiving as cobalt \-- the killer was breathtaking. He moved with the fearless grace of the warrior, a man's iron will in an adolescent's body. For a moment, Michael Yamada entertained himself with a vision of that spare, muscular form naked on his indigo sheets. At the last moment, the vice lord refrained from licking his lips and instead looked up at his lover and second-in-command.   
  
Arcane stood at Michael's elbow. His flawless was mouth arranged in the sweetest of smiles. Sensing his lover's gaze, he put a hand on Michael's shoulder.   
  
As always, Arcane's merest touch sent a shock through the vice lord. For a moment, he forgot Heero Yuy, forgot the hunt, forgot everything but the cold beauty of the man who stood at his shoulder. Then Arcane's hand fell away, ending the moment, and Michael returned his attention to business.  
  
The assassin stopped before the desk and bowed.   
  
Michael permitted himself the smallest of smiles. "I understand you were successful." 

"Yes."  
  
"No regrets? He was, after all, a fellow Gundam pilot. You fought Oz and the Alliance together. Such things make men brothers."  
  
"The war is over." Nothing moved in those eyes.  
  
Michael leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head. Through the tall windows behind him, the colony atmospherics were shifting into sunset. The cavernous room filled with shadow.  
  
Reaching into his jacket, he took out his jeweled snuffbox. He opened it and shook a bit of crystalline powder onto his thumbnail. Inhaling it with a practiced twist of his wrist, Michael waved Yuy toward the chair in front of his desk.  
  
The assassin sat, at ease but not relaxed. The sharp point of the drug hit Michael and the edges of things began to glitter. His lover set a light hand on his shoulder again.  
  
"Do you have any loyalties at all, Master Assassin?" Arcane asked softly.  
  
As always, there was that subtle change in Yuy when faced with Arcane. Was the boy attracted to him, wondered Michael idly? It was more than possible. Arcane's beauty was enough to take one's breath away. His languid nature covered fire, passion and utter ruthlessness. It was that banked flame beneath the ice that drew Michael and perhaps the assassin, as well.  
  
The boy shrugged, looking away, back to Michael. "If you pay me, I'm loyal."   
  
Arcane murmured, "How times have changed."   
  
Arms on his desk, Michael leaned forward. "Simple. Straightforward. I appreciate uncomplicated arrangements. As it happens, I'm more than satisfied with that loyalty -- so much so that I have decided to give you a bonus."  
  
The colony atmospherics were malfunctioning. There was too much red in the sunset. It bloodied the floor and peeling wallpaper. Michael shivered, feeling the somatine kick in completely. He touched a button on his terminal. To his left, double doors opened and four of his men came in. Their footsteps echoed in the long, otherwise empty room. They escorted a prisoner. Filthy, bruised and battered, the unlovely creature was thrust forward into the fading light.   
  
He was bent under the weight of his chains. Shackled and fettered, such precautions seemed ludicrous given his slight build, but the reports claimed that he was a tiger. One of Michael's militia was dead and four more injured transporting the creature here. Even regular beatings didn't seem to cow the boy for long.   
  
The drug sang through Michael's blood. He watched, holding his breath as both assassin and prisoner faced each other.  
  
The latter shook back a tangle of matted hair. Violet eyes glinted. Battered lips curved into a crooked grin.  
  
"Heero Yuy," came the soft, hoarse voice. "Long time no see."  
  
Suddenly Yuy was on his feet, a blur streaking across the room. Michael watched in disbelief as the prisoner's smile vanished and he stumbled backwards, chains tripping him up. He went sprawling. Yuy was on top of him, smashing his head against the floor.   
  
"Stop them!" shouted Michael, taken utterly by surprise. He spun around. Arcane was smiling.


	3. Part 2

Duo knew he was within a breath of losing his life and so he remained   
very still, a shadow against the wall. Heero Yuy stood at the window,   
staring out into the dark. It took every ounce of strength Duo still possessed   
to remain on his feet. He hurt everywhere, was hungry and thirsty and   
numbingly tired, but there was no way he would show weakness to Heero.   
No way in hell.  
  
They were in his apartment. At least Duo figured as much. The main room   
was lit by the single, overhead fixture. It was the sort of place Duo   
would have expected from Heero, minimal space and sparsely furnished.   
Not one goddamned personal touch in sight.  
  
Heero turned from the window. Duo tensed, hands clenching at his back   
when the other youth walked to a tall cabinet and opened a drawer. Without   
surprise, Duo saw the pistol. He swallowed the protest that rose automatically   
to his lips and closed his eyes.  
  
Nothing happened, and finally he opened them again. He met Heero's dark,   
inimical grin and would have laughed except for the blow that came out   
of nowhere. Shit! The son of bitch was even stronger than he remembered!  
  
"I _will_ kill you," promised Heero softly. The gun clicked.   
Empty.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. Heard that before," replied Duo, exhaustion roughening   
his voice. "Just fucking do it for a change, 'kay?"  
  
"Not until I hear your reason."  
  
"Say what?"  
  
Duo saw the next blow coming. He could do nothing more than turn his head,   
letting those hard knuckles glance off his jaw. The pain made him hiss   
and filled his eyes with water. This time, nothing could keep him upright   
and he slid down the wall to crouch at the other pilot's feet.  
  
"Tell me why you killed her."  
  
Oh, god.  
  
"I didn't . . ."  
  
Heero didn't give him time to finish, kicking him. Reality faltered and   
Duo had dim hopes of being knocked thoroughly unconscious. But, like most   
of his life, there was no such luck.  
  
 _"WHY?"_  
  
The misery and anger in Heero's voice gave Duo a rush of false strength,   
pushing him back to his feet to stand, wild-eyed, facing this man who   
had every reason to want him dead.  
  
 _"I DIDN'T KILL RELENA!"_  
  
"You lying bastard!"  
  
Down he went again, this time under another right hook. Shaking now, the   
edges of the room fading in and out, Duo nevertheless faced the rage that   
blazed out of those dark eyes.  
  
"I didn't kill her, Heero, I swear to God I didn't!"  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
Duo clenched his jaw and was miserably silent. He could not believe this!   
When his abductors had piled him into the filthy hold of a small transport   
ship, he had figured that he'd be sold off to some other shady mining   
operation. The last thing Duo had expected was to find himself on Elion   
and in the hands of Heero Yuy.  
  
"Why the hell are you working for Yamada?" he asked finally,   
when Heero had lapsed back into his more characteristic silence. "I   
thought you were working with WuFei, Noin and ...."  
  
"WuFei is dead," Heero said shortly.  
  
"W- when? How?"  
  
"In combat, doing his duty as a Preventer. He died with honor. You'll   
die a murderer and slave."  
  
"Not anytime soon though, huh?" retorted Duo.  
  
Wu Fei dead. Shit.  
  
Heero gave him a long, unreadable look.  
  
"Get up," he said.  
  
Duo started to shake his head, saw the raised fist, and got awkwardly   
back to his feet. It was touch-and-go now. His knees seemed made of water   
and he was having a hard time focusing. He wished he knew what was behind   
the eyes glaring out at him from under the spikes of black hair.  
  
They'd both grown in the last couple of years, but Heero was every bit   
as beautiful as Duo remembered -- and just as deadly.  
  
"Turn around."  
  
Mutely, Duo obeyed. Heero unlocked his shackles, then tossed the key to   
him. Correctly interpreting the tacit command, Duo sank back to the floor   
and unlocked the chain binding his ankles.  
  
Maybe it was foolishness born of exhaustion or simply a last, desperate   
attempt at freedom. Duo gripped the chains and lunged to his feet, lashing   
out with them.  
  
Alas, he was in no shape to fight a superman, especially one who had been   
able to kick his ass even when he had been in peak condition. Heero swore,   
neatly removed the chains and with a careless blow, sent Duo stumbling   
across the room to fall over a chair and land in an untidy heap on the   
floor.  
  
"Had enough?" Heero asked dryly.  
  
Was that a glint of amusement? Duo had to use the chair to get back to   
his feet. He leaned against it, catching his breath, trying to ignore   
the multitude of new aches.  
  
Heero stood and from the small table near the door, picked up the large   
packet lying there. Opening it, he took something out. An injector, larger   
than usual.  
  
"Come here."  
  
Duo knew what it was. His throat tightened.  
  
"No way. I don't like shots..."  
  
Heero took a threatening step in his direction. Duo swore and didn't move.   
He kept very still when Heero came to him, putting the injector barrel   
against his shoulder. There was a snapping sound and a flower of pain   
bloomed there. He kept his groan between his teeth. It felt like his heart   
was breaking, although that couldn't be. That particular organ was already   
in shards and had been for a long time.  
  
"You know what that is?"  
  
Duo nodded and didn't look up. Control pellets were routinely injected   
into fractious prisoners -- or slaves. They could be programmed to sound   
alarms if the wearer strayed from a certain area. What made them especially   
devilish was that you couldn't just dig them out -- they sprouted tiny   
bio-organic filaments that wrapped around nerve endings and blood vessels.   
Only a special instrument could remove it. Anything else and you'd be   
lucky if you just lost your arm.  
  
"There's a shower in there," Heero went on, jerking his chin   
toward that closet-sized chamber. "Go clean up. You stink."  
  
Duo rose and with a mocking bow, turned his back on Heero. Shutting the   
door behind him, he locked it and stood a moment, resting his forehead   
against the faux-wood.  
  
 _I can't do this. I've got to get out of here! What the hell happened  
to him?_  
  
Fingering the metal lump under his skin, he grimaced and stripped off   
his coverall.  
  
The feeling of the hot water was heavenly. There was plenty of soap and   
shampoo, and, in the little shower cupboard, unused, a bottle of detangler.   
He scrubbed and scrubbed, sighing happily, woes temporarily forgotten   
in the novelty of being clean again.  
  
Then he simply stood under the shower, determined to enjoy it as long   
as Heero allowed. After the initial objection of all his bruises, the   
heat relaxed him, loosening muscles held rigid for far too long. In the   
end he collapsed in the corner of the shower stall and let it beat down   
on him, feeling his eyes grow heavy.  
  
Heero. He belonged to Heero! Of all the goddamned, fucking irony. Too   
bad he wasn't in the mood to be the butt of cosmic jokes.  
  
A pounding on the door announced the end of Heero's patience.  
  
"Heh! I'm getting out!"  
  
The pounding stopped. Duo got up, half expecting the door to splinter   
inward, but nothing happened. He turned off the water and set about the   
tedious business of combing out his hair. When it was finally braided,   
he dressed and left the bathroom.  
  
Heero was seated in the small dining alcove, eating from a tray. The smell   
of real food made Duo's stomach cramp. He remembered, vaguely, being dragged   
past a big kitchen.  
  
The other boy looked up as Duo approached the table. For just a second,   
Heero's eyes widened. Then his mouth turned down. He pointed Duo into   
the empty chair opposite.  
  
"Where have you been since you killed Relena?"  
  
"I didn't kill her." Duo's anger, washed away by the shower,   
now returned in full force. "Go right ahead and keep asking me that.   
I'll keep givin' you the same damn answer!"  
  
"Where have you been for the last year and a half?"  
  
"Zoe."  
  
Heero frowned. "The natural resources satellite?"  
  
"Yeah. It wasn't that bad -- got a job running scut. It paid okay,   
too.."  
  
Duo stared down at his hands and the fine, white scars there. Eranium   
extricated from its ore was dangerously unstable. Running scut, one of   
the few jobs not left to machines in asteroid mining, meant following   
an extraction-bot through the new tunnels, collecting the tiny pieces   
that fell behind. You had a special container to put them in before they   
blew up. Find a big enough piece, be too slow in getting it into the container,   
and you lost a piece of yourself -- quite literally.  
  
Looking up, he saw Heero's eyes on him and shrugged as if none of it mattered.  
  
"I'm really hungry," he said plaintively, not wanting to think   
about Zoe anymore. "Is starvation part of your plan to get me to   
confess?"  
  
He ventured a small, hopeful smile. Heero said nothing, only gave him   
a hard look, then dug into his pocket and pulled out a foil packet. He   
threw it at Duo.  
  
"Dinner."  
  
Resigned, Duo tore open the packet and took out the nutrient capsules.   
He stared at them a moment, then popped them all into his mouth, grimacing.   
"Yum."  
  
"You can starve if you want," Heero said shortly.  
  
Duo said nothing, swallowing the pills. For a moment, he thought he would   
be sick. Since being in Yamada's clutches, he'd eaten only once, a candy   
bar given to him by one of his kidnappers.  
  
"I'm giving you back to Yamada." The flatness of Heero's voice   
sent chills through Duo. "I sure as hell don't want you."  
  
Duo blinked and wondered why, even after all this time, Heero's cold rejection   
had the power to hurt him.  
  
"Suits me just fine," he retorted.  
  
"Really?" Heero lifted his head, eyes narrowing. "He'll   
probably kill you."  
  
"He can try." Duo met that look with a defiant smile and a shrug.  
  
"Get out," said Heero.  
  
Throat tight, Duo turned and walked from the room. When the door slammed   
behind him, he went a few steps down the corridor, then stopped. He leaned   
wearily against the wall. So Heero didn't want him. Like that was a huge   
surprise.  
  
What did he do next? What did he know about Elion -- considering he managed   
to get out of here? He knew it was one of the older, fringe colonies.   
Like Zoe, Elion was a wreck that should have been condemned long ago.   
The urban sector outside Yamada's complex was the only one still habitable.   
If Duo remembered right, there was only a single docking bay still in   
use and it was here, attached to the complex. If only he could snatch   
a transport and get the hell away.  
  
 _And where would you go? You have no friends left. Everyone wants you  
dead._  
  
He'd seen that much in Heero's glare. If Heero still hated him, then probably   
the others did, too. He was smart to have kept away and out of communication.   
For a second, Duo hovered dangerously on the edge of despair.  
  
Fuck it. When hadn't he been alone? When hadn't life been a matter of   
looking after himself? Those few moments of kindness and comradery were   
blips on the radar, accidents -- nothing a guy could or should count on.   
There was him and there was the rest of the world. Get over it, Maxwell.  
  
The corridor was empty. What lay to the left Duo already knew, but the   
right... He told his heart to quit pounding so hard and, since Heero hadn't   
actually, precisely, told him where he should go, Duo loped off in the   
latter direction.  
  
The corridor ended in stairs. Duo slipped into stealth mode. Soundless,   
a shadow among shadows that clung to the edges of the stairwell, he reached   
the top and a door. Locked. Duo lay his ear against the metal and heard   
nothing.  
  
The latch was old and rusted. Duo considered it a moment, then shrugged   
and opened it with a quick, hard blow. Stepping out onto the roof he took   
a deep breath. Overhead, the station's inner hull showed in patches through   
the artificially-generated "sky." It was cold and he wrapped   
his arms around himself. The rooftop was littered with junk, mostly the   
remains of drinking parties. He kicked a can aside, walking to the edge.  
  
The city spread out before him. He saw plenty of abandoned and ruined   
buildings, but there was traffic moving sluggishly through the sector's   
dilapidated streets. Elion was dying, but it wasn't dead yet.  
  
From the looks of it, Duo reckoned he was on the far right of Yamada's   
walled complex. To his left, there was a building identical to the one   
upon which he stood. Connected to both was a huge structure that merged   
with the colony's outer hull. Most of that was space dock.  
  
Once the complex had been set in a small park. Now Duo saw only bare earth   
and pavement, junk scattered about and cars parked willy nilly.  
  
Slowly, he walked the perimeter of the roof, glancing down from time to   
time, making note of where the gold-uniformed security guards stood and   
how many there were. What he saw was a fairly tight operation, with plenty   
of muscle and lots of paranoia. The last fit in real well with Yuy's presence   
here.  
  
Heero Yuy. Shit. For a moment, Duo had the ridiculous notion of going   
back and trying to talk that block of ice into keeping him. Given enough   
time, he was sure he could convince the other pilot that there had been   
a terrible mistake. If Heero was on his side, there was a _real_   
chance of getting to the bottom of Relena's murder, of finding the creature   
that had killed her. A chance to stop running.  
  
A chance that Heero might actually look at him as a.... shit! Don't go   
there! Duo closed his eyes as every damned daydream he'd had since meeting   
the other pilot rushed back to confound him, to make him bite his lip   
until the pain drove those memories back into the dark where they belonged.  
  
He found a fire-escape hanging by loose bolts to the alley side of the   
building. Duo stared at it for a long time. There was only one security   
guard in sight, leaning against the wall, smoking, facing the street.   
Duo fingered the pellet in his shoulder.  
  
Damn it! He had to escape! There was always a way -- he simply had to   
find it. And the first thing he had to do was to test Heero's claim. He   
touched the lump in his shoulder again.  
  
His mind made up, heartbeat accelerating, Duo clambered over the roof   
edge and, keeping his eye on the security guard, started down the fire   
escape.  



	4. Part 3

"Your plan has failed," Michael snapped.  
  
Arcane opened drowsy eyes and watched him pace.   
  
"Yuy has given him back."  
  
"He has indeed," Arcane replied, yawning.   
  
The man sprawled, shirtless, among the cushions. Did nothing upset him, wondered Michael irritably.  
  
"We need the punk, damn it, but . . ."  
  
"I told you it would not be easy," sighed Arcane, sitting up, pale hair in a cloud around his face. "He's a gundam pilot."  
  
"So is Maxwell."  
  
"Maxwell's heart is purer." Arcane's lashes drooped. "It will take too long with him."  
  
The room was filled with the lingering scent of dream jasmine. Michael began to feel its effects in a weighting of his limbs.  
  
"We could bring Maxwell under our control, but only by breaking his spirit," Arcane continued. "Yuy, on the other hand, has already lost his honor by killing Chang. The fall will be shorter."  
  
"I don't like it." Michael crossed the room, dropping to the cushions. Arcane reached for him, but he pulled away. "And you forget \-- Maxwell killed Relena Peacecraft. Not much honor in that!"  
  
Arcane's mouth tightened. Something flashed in his eyes, something dark.   
  
"Don't be so sure," he said softly. "No one actually saw him drive the knife into her. Patience, my dear Michael." Arcane pushed the silver plate across the table. "These boys must be led \-- gently some in some instances, cruelly in others. They are not ordinary by any sense. Heero especially..."   
  
Michael looked up to see his mouth tighten.  
  
"What of him?  
  
"Let him deal now with the shock of finding Maxwell within reach and later..."  
  
"Later?"  
  
"Later we move the two of them into the next game position."  
  
"I grow weary of delays!"  
  
Arcane fluttered his fingers at the plate. Slim gold tube to his nose, Michael obediently inhaled most of the line squiggling across it.   
  
"We're close," the vice lord growled.   
  
"And yet, true knowledge eludes us." Arcane fell backwards onto the cushions. Silver hair fell in a tumble over the chaos of color and fabric.   
  
"We're wasting time and money on this useless hunt of yours. We should just get on with it!"  
  
"You'll see how useless it is," Arcane replied, unfazed. "Patience, dear Michael. Patience."  
  
Michael bent and inhaled the rest of the drug. "What if Yuy never accepts Maxwell?"  
  
"He'll accept that imp." Arcane smiled broadly at the ceiling, lost in his own, mysterious world. "All we need is patience and, occasionally, a small, encouraging push."  
  
****  
  
The cellar room was very quiet. SB pushed the last fragment of fuel biscuit into their homemade burner and lit it. Usually, that was enough to bring the others, all of them pushing and shoving for a place closest to the warmth. Today, however, no one moved. Everyone remained along the walls, scraps of blankets around themselves against the chill. Only Wildflower came, holding frail hands to the glow. He watched her, uneasy too, but not willing to show it before the others.  
  
SB, like all street rats, was skinny and undernourished. He thought he was probably thirteen, although he claimed to everyone else that he was fifteen. His parents were a misty memory; he had a scrap of photograph, much creased and faded. It didn't matter that little was legible. SB had long ago memorized their features.  
  
"It's okay," he said bracingly. "It's just Wildflower, for chrizakes."  
  
"She was dead," retorted Lioh.   
  
"Obviously not," SB said, holding onto his temper with an effort. "Are ya dead, Wi?"  
  
The little girl lifted enormous eyes to SB's face. "Uh-uh."  
  
More scowls from his raggle-taggle little family.   
  
"Oh, come on," he continued, exasperated. "What are ya? A bunch of superstitious dorks? Well?"  
  
This was the last thing he needed, thought SB irritably. Bad enough that Yamada was on the rampage! Now SB had to deal with Lioh and his overactive imagination. They needed to pull together, not go off like a buncha loonies.  
  
"You're just mad because you wanted her coat," he added before he thought about it.  
  
Lioh's scowl grew darker. He got up and, kicking at the debris at the edges of the room, stuck his hands in the pockets of his tattered, too-large coverall. "She was dead," he persisted stubbornly.  
  
"She's not dead," spoke up Ripper. The boy, with an uncertain look at SB, stood up and came to sit beside the girl. She smiled at him and, after a moment, he smiled back and draped a friendly arm over her shoulders.  
  
"Why does she look like that then?" Lioh asked sullenly as, one by one, the others came to the burner.   
  
"She was sick," SB sighed. "Crize, Lioh! You know that!"  
  
"She had water-fever." Lioh was not giving up without a fight. " _Everyone_ dies who gets it."  
  
Candy spoke up. "Maybe she had something else."   
  
Once upon time, she had been the daughter of a physician. The physician was dead, murdered with his wife on their way to Earth. The hijacked shuttle had been brought to Elion to add to the vice lord's spoils. No one had seen the tiny figure that crept from it and out onto the dock -- no one but SB who had been scavenging around there that night.  
  
"She could have had something else," Candy continued. "There are a lot of things that look like water fever. Pneumonia, for instance."  
  
SB sighed as Lioh finally accepted the situation. Even so, the younger boy chose a spot well away from Wildflower, who hugged her skinny knees to her chest, small pointed chin resting upon them.   
  
In truth, SB didn't blame Lioh. Wildflower had certainly looked dead. Even now there was something different about her. She seemed not all there. He wondered if that was normal for someone recovering from such a dire sickness.  
  
"So what we gonna do?" Louis piped up. The twelve year-old, SB's lieutenant, picked a cigarette butt from his pocket and held the ragged end on the burner's red-hot grate. SB thought about telling him to put it out, then bit his tongue at the last minute. Tense as things were, he didn't feel like getting into a fight with Louis, too.  
  
"We gotta find another hideout," he replied.  
  
"But they ain't found this one!"  
  
"Maybe. Maybe the goldies just never bothered."  
  
"They're bothering now," Erica muttered. She was next oldest, maybe even older than SB. "I got chased away from Frankie's. They never come around Frankie's. If they come there, they'll come here."  
  
A gloomy silence fell over the squalid room.   
  
"I guess that means we'll have to find somewhere else to get food," said SB finally.  
  
"Yeah, but where?" Louis wanted to know.  
  
"I'll find someplace," said SB. "Don't worry."  
  
There were solemn nods all around. The looks the others bent upon him were trusting. SB's stomach knotted, but he stood up, pretending nonchalance, and brushed off his threadbare shorts. No point in scaring anyone more than they already were.  
  
"Louis, you got watch duty. The rest of you -- be careful!"  
  
"Where are you gonna look! Goldies are all over the place!" objected Lioh.  
  
"Hell. Been dodging those morons for years! I'm thinkin' Restaurant Row."  
  
"But they're all over that place!" objected Suzy.  
  
"They were," agreed SB. "And mebbe they've even got a sentry still. Don't matter to me. I know how to work around that crap."  
  
"You're nuts!" said Lioh in awe.  
  
"That's why they call me Squirrel Bait," he replied and, tipping his cap jauntily, headed out into the perilous streets of Elion Station. 


	5. Part 4

Heero was right. The pellet set off alarms. Duo made it all the way into   
the next block before a small army of boneheads was on him. They beat   
him senseless and threw him into a metal cell. There he stayed, wobbling   
half in, half out of consciousness.  
  
When things made sense for more than a nanosecond, he wondered where Heero   
was, then remembered.  
  
 _I don't want to see you again._  
  
Fuck you, too, Perfect Heero.  
  
Since standing was probably out of the question for awhile, Duo crawled   
across the grimy floor to the wall. He hunched against it, taking slow,   
shallow breaths, and examined the damage. Bruises, cuts -- his coverall   
was a ruin. So much for good first impressions. Reassured that there were   
no serious hurts, he leaned his head back against the wall and waited   
for the worst of the pain to recede.  
  
Getting out was going to be tough. Damn. Chances were good that he was   
gonna pay a lot for this little disaster. He would have laughed except   
it hurt too much.  
  
Heero Yuy.  
  
Shit.  
  
A few hours later his solitude ended with the arrival of five burly guards,   
all of them with an attitude. They chained his hands, and drove him through   
the complex, knocking him around and jeering. Then, abruptly, he was outside   
again. A small courtyard surrounded him, with high walls where the buildings   
didn't fence it in. It was paved, garbage cans lined up along one side   
near a gate now closed and firmly bolted. In the middle was a steel pole   
with heavy rings attached. Dread clamped a vise around his stomach.  
  
A group of people were bunched up at one end of the courtyard. They wore   
uniforms of a sort -- black trousers and sleeveless shirt -- and were   
completely silent, watching as the guards drove Duo across the cracked   
pavement to the pole. His arms were dragged over his head and fastened   
to the nearest ring. It was obviously set to accommodate a man of ordinary   
height. Duo was too small and he ended up dangling, toes barely touching   
the ground. Fighting for calm, he felt hands on his collar, then the coverall   
was ripped away to hang around his hips.  
  
Duo thought his heart might actually succeed in forcing itself up through   
his throat. He wrapped icy fingers around the chain, knowing what was   
coming. Closing his eyes, he leaned his forehead against the cold metal   
and tried to relax.  
  
Behind him came a soft whine. Oh, fuck...  
  
Someone approached the pole. He opened his eyes. It was the man who had   
been standing with Yamada when they'd given him to Yuy. Arcane. The one   
who looked so much like Zechs. Who'd have thought that the prince had   
a psychotic double?  
  
Duo clamped down on his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering and managed   
a defiant glare. He saw no sign of the vice lord himself.  
  
"Tsk, tsk." Arcane smiled down at him. "You were warned,   
Maxwell."  
  
"Yeah, well -- I didn't think I'd be much good at this slave crap."  
  
"You'd better get good," purred the man. "Has anyone ever   
hit you with a force-whip?"  
  
Duo couldn't answer. His throat was shut tight. He shook his head.  
  
A slow, almost sad smile touched Arcane's patrician features. He reached   
out a languid hand to stroke flyaway wisps of hair from the boy's forehead.   
"Such beautiful creatures, all of you."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
But he walked away, giving a careless wave to the guards.  
  
The first blow made Duo catch his breath, gritting his teeth. The next   
was worse.  
  
 _Gimme a minute --- catch my...AH!_  
  
The lash fell again and again, giving him no time to recover, to marshal   
his swiftly dwindling strength. Stripes of liquid fire were laid across   
his back until he could no longer keep silent. The onlookers became a   
blur of shadow in front of him; he could not make out individual faces   
through the tears. His screams echoed against the walls, body jerked helplessly   
with the relentless rain of blows. When it was finally over, he hung in   
the chains, barely conscious.  
  
Uncaring hands released him from the pole and left him huddled at its   
base. Duo was dimly aware of the bystanders shuffling past him and into   
the complex. He stayed where he was, unable to move, lost in a haze of   
agony from which he had little hope of escape.  
  
He had no idea how long he lay there before someone finally came. They   
had to lift him and he was unconscious again before they got him off the   
ground. When he woke, he was on a narrow table, bright light all around.   
People in white coats hovered over him. Their low voices came and went   
within his uncertain awareness. The pain continued, relentless and although   
he tried as hard as he could to stay silent, again and again their attentions   
made him whimper.  
  
Finally, they left him alone. He lay, eyes closed, hands clenched, knowing   
that they had bound him in place with leather straps to keep him from   
sliding off the table. As he drifted in and out, he heard footsteps.  
  
"Not very wise, little one."  
  
Arcane again. Duo tried summon rage and simply hadn't the energy.  
  
"Why...not -- not jus' -- kill me?"  
  
Arcane gently wove his fingers through the boy's thick, tangled hair.   
Duo blinked and blinked again.  
  
"Why?" Arcane's mouth was at his ear, sending shivers through   
him, making the pain worse. "If Yuy agreed to protect you, you would   
be safe. Why not beg him to take you back?"  
  
Now Duo was really afraid. He saw a maze ahead, traps set with razor teeth,   
but were they for himself or for Heero? He couldn't think. It hurt too   
much. He closed his eyes and swallowed his misery.  
  
Heero.  
  
"No," he whispered. "Never."  
  
****  
  
Restaurant Row. SB hunkered on the rooftop of Mallory's Pizzeria and scowled.   
There were fuckin' goldies everywhere. He'd never seen anything like it.   
What the _hell_ did Yamada want with all the kids?  
  
Biting his lip, the boy considered his options. In a few minutes, a patrol   
would be coming up to the rooftop. He'd been dancing with them for three   
hours, moving from one building to the next. Every nerve was on edge.  
  
Neither had SB seen any other street rats. Usually you were stumbling   
over them around here. He thought about the rumors that Arcane was snatching   
'em up and selling 'em to whorehouses on Earth.  
  
"Hey! You!"  
  
SB spun around, heart in his mouth. Shit! Two goldies had come up the   
fire escape. He turned and bolted for the door, but there were more there.   
Had he been seen from somewhere else?  
  
Fire escape was out. Stairs were out. SB looked frantically around. Rusting   
heater houses stood on either end of the building. It was the last resort.   
He bolted for one. Flinging himself against the flimsy door of the shack,   
he fell into it.  
  
He heard them shouting. Ripping at the grill covering the exhaust conduit,   
tearing his fingers until they bled, the boy got it open just as one of   
the men reached the shack. For a half-second, he stared into the black   
pipe, then dove in, head first.  
  
Once before SB had been forced to such a drastic escape route. That time,   
he'd almost died trying to find his way out of cramped, moldy exhaust   
tunnels. This shaft was a little wider, which meant it was easier to breathe   
\-- and faster to fall. He went rattling down it, doing his best to slow   
his descent by pushing against the sides with his bleeding hands.  
  
Suddenly the walls of the shaft were gone and it was instinct that made   
him twist frantically to avoid landing on his head. Even so, he lay, dazed   
by the impact. Muffled shouting still reached him, so he forced his aching   
body up and, on hands and knees, scrambled down the nearest tunnel.  
  
Several minutes later, he came to the first vent, peering down through   
it to see a room filled with boxes and barrels. There was no one around.   
He kicked the grate away and dropped to the floor. Luckily, the door wasn't   
locked and he scooted out.  
  
Restaurant Row was too hot. SB put it behind him, hitching a ride on a   
trolley across town and getting all the way to Second before the engineer   
saw him. Leaping off, SB raced away into the crumbling buildings, the   
man's curses following. Once safely in the warren of empty streets, the   
boy stopped and dropped to his haunches, sides heaving.  
  
The net was tightening. For a moment, fear clogged his throat and stung   
his eyes. He would be caught and sold as a fuck toy. The thought terrified   
SB, but worse was thinking of his brothers and sisters suffering such   
a fate. He was tough. In the end, he could take it, but Sammy? Or Wildflower?  
  
Blinking fiercely, he got up. It was time to go home -- check on things   
and figure out what to do next. There was one more place he could try,   
but it was dangerous as hell. No way he'd let any of the others try it.  
  
SB was careful going back, taking a roundabout route through mostly abandoned   
buildings. Moisture dripped from overhead. Something leaked high above   
them. The rotation of the colony brought the unscheduled "rainstorm"   
around once a day.  
  
Ahead was his street, rusting cars blocking it. Some sixth sense made   
him slow and keep to the alley. He peered around the corner Home was in   
sight. It looked normal, but...  
  
"SB!"  
  
He spun around, heart in his mouth. It was Wildflower, clutching her duffel   
bag, scrunched down between the broken wall of the building and an old   
garbage bin. Her eyes were enormous and in the shadow of her niche they   
seemed unnaturally bright.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The goldies came," she whispered. "They took everyone   
away."  
  
He heard her with a sense of unreality. Suddenly shaking, he hunkered   
down beside her, one eye on the street. There was a livid bruise on her   
forehead. Her thin cheeks were streaked with dirt and tears, but her eyes   
were fierce and curiously thoughtful.  
  
"Everyone?"  
  
She nodded. "I was in the attic. I heard 'em coming, so I climbed   
out and down the fire 'scape." There was a gulp. "A guy was   
waiting. He grabbed me and -- and said he was gonna...."  
  
"Oh, shit." SB put his arms around her and held her tight while   
she shivered against his shirt. The goldies had come and he hadn't been   
there. _He hadn't been there!_ Sick at heart, he pried her gently   
loose.  
  
"I gotta go see," he told her. "You stay here."  
  
"NO!" She clutched at him desperately. "They'll get you!"  
  
"Not me," he said grimly. "Stay PUT!"  
  
SB didn't wait to see if she did as he told her. He slipped around the   
corner and into the abandoned building. On the roof, he peered over. There   
was Wildflower, obediently crouched in the shelter of the bin.  
  
The buildings were so close together a good jumper could make it from   
one to the next, easy. SB was good jumper. He went from building to building   
until the next one was home. Just in time, he saw the goldie patrolling   
the roof. Swearing under his breath, he crept down through the old tenement   
and jumped through a window and into his building. Peering out, he saw   
another goldie lounged on the front stoop.  
  
SB ghosted through the empty rooms, sick at the sight of their belongings   
flung everywhere, precious bits of junk trashed by uncaring boots. By   
the time he made it back to Wildflower his own eyes were burning.  
  
"What are we gonna do?" she whispered when he settled down beside   
her, trying to swallow over the lump in his throat.  
  
"We see if we can find 'em, of course. Didja see which direction   
they went?"  
  
"That way," she pointed, colony east.  
  
"There's nothin' there -- just the dead zone and it's all sealed   
up."  
  
But Wildflower was adamant. He sighed, thinking. Most of the buildings   
near there were derelict. Yamada might have set up some kind of holding   
place before shipping kids off colony.  
  
"We'll check anyway. Then we'll find a place to hole up for awhile.   
Someplace they'll never think of looking for us."  
  
"Where's that?"  
  
"Yamada's complex."  
  
Wildflower nodded soberly, rubbing her eyes. "I wanna go there,"   
she said. "I didn't think you could get in."  
  
Startled, he stared at her. Her small features were deadly serious, almost   
adult in their focus. He had a sudden, unsettling feeling that he was   
looking at someone else. Had Candy been right? He remembered her pulling   
him aside after his confrontation with Lioh that day, her voice low, face   
worried.  
  
"Y'know -- sometimes when there's been a long fever, you can get   
brain damage," she'd told him. "Wi seems kinda confused. I'll   
keep an eye on her, okay?"  
  
Had the fever somehow scrambled Wildflower's brain?  
  
"There's a way," he said now, hoping she had the sense to listen   
and do what he told her. "I found it once, a couple years ago. If   
we're really quiet and careful, we can live in the walls for a while --   
'til the sweep ends. But you gotta be real careful!"  
  
"I'll be careful," she promised. "Can we go there now,   
SB? Can we?"  
  
"We'd better." He stood up and held out his hand. "And   
we'll find the others. I promise."  
  
She took it, fingers icy in his. He managed an encouraging smile and with   
her in tow, headed up-colony toward the vice-lord's domain. 


	6. Part 5

Yamada did not stint on equipment for his assassin. Heero had been given   
a very nice little cruiser with decent armament and an efficient engine.   
As always, he thought of Wing Zero as he set the coordinates for D-19.   
Once free of Elion, however, there was nothing to do but keep an eye out   
for fellow travelers and his thoughts circled back to the vice lord's   
gift.  
  
Maxwell. Shit.  
  
As the man's hired muscle, Heero was frequently called upon to act as   
bodyguard during business meetings and the entertainments that inevitably   
followed. In the past three months, he'd been witness to an astonishing   
variety of sexual activity. Maybe that was why his thoughts kept tangling   
up in violet eyes and a lean, graceful body.  
  
Dr. J. had been more succinct.  
  
"Careful, boy. I've some knowledge of Elion and its ruler. You'll   
be at risk for more than discovery there. Remember, sex is a powerful   
conditioning reinforcer. You've got good control, but you're still an   
adolescent."  
  
Heero had heard a similar lecture when he'd guarded Relena. Even the docs   
had never understood that it had been different with her. She had been   
a symbol of what the world could have been, the reason they were fighting.   
Just looking at her had brought peace to his soul. His love had been the   
knight's pure love for his queen.  
  
A failed knight. A dead queen.  
  
Now he had her assassin in his hands and did he kill Duo at once as he   
should? No. Instead, all the old feelings had come rushing back, the ones   
he could never acknowledge, at least not during the war. Heero trembled,   
hands tightening on the arms of his seat.  
  
No! he told himself fiercely. Think of the mission.  
  
D-19 was a half day's travel from distant Elion. He got in at station   
night, the dock empty except for a few security guards. Yamada's larcenous   
subordinate was located and dead by dawn. Next, Heero broke into the dock   
administration offices, hacked into the arrival and departure logs, programming   
the computer to delete all his data as soon as he was clear of the station.   
He lined himself up for the next departure slot and headed back to the   
ship.  
  
Heero set the coordinates to Earth and slept, waking when the alarm signaled   
him to begin landing procedures. Noin hailed him on a secure channel soon   
after he entered the atmosphere.  
  
"Heero!" After two months, her familiar voice lifted his spirits.   
"We were starting to worry. Head straight for Sanc -- the lodge."  
  
Technically, this was not a Preventer operation. In official terms, he   
and the others were unofficial "advisors," to the prince, but   
the authority they wielded went far beyond what was customarily awarded   
to mere consultants. Heero often wondered what the other leaders of Earth   
Sphere would do if they learned the true function of this elite group.  
  
The Peacecraft lodge was built on the side of a mountain, surrounded by   
forest, in an area that had escaped the depredations of the recent war.   
There was a small, but adequate landing strip on a ridge nearby. He was   
greeted by none other than Milliard himself, Sanc's reluctant head of   
state and brother to the murdered Relena. Only the people gathered here   
called him by his other name, the one Relena had hated -- the one he preferred.   
Zechs Marquise.  
  
They shook hands, the two warriors, both still so young. Heero wondered   
how Zechs bore it. He had to govern, to substitute statesmanship for combat,   
a different sort of battle where intrigue, lies and deception were the   
weapons of choice. It was ironic that in this particular mission, Heero,   
too, was forced to use those weapons. At least it was only this mission   
and not for the rest of his life.  
  
"Who's here?" Heero asked as Zechs waved him into a jeep. He   
breathed deep of Earth's air, the richness of it, the scent that no station's   
air processor units could duplicate.  
  
"Noin, of course, Quatre, Trowa, Wu Fei and Dr. J."  
  
Heero nodded.  
  
"Wu Fei is getting impatient," added Zechs with a grin. "Being   
dead doesn't suit him."  
  
"Being Yamada's assassin doesn't much suit me, either," Heero   
retorted.  
  
They gathered in the lodge's library, a room of mellowed wood paneling   
with mullioned windows that overlooked the heavily wooded estate. Dusk   
was filling the valley with shadow and a mist rode the treetops. Heero   
settled into a chair at Dr. J's right hand, wondering as always what lurked   
behind the goggles.  
  
Noin smiled at him, as did Quatre. Trowa nodded and Wu Fei simply stared.  
  
"Well?" barked the scientist.  
  
"I have Maxwell."  
  
It was not what they expected, any of them, and they sat with their mouths   
open. Tersely, Heero recounted the past events. Zechs, who had gone chalk-white   
at the announcement, stood, trembling with emotion.  
  
"Bring him here at once!" he commanded, every inch the aristocrat.   
"Justice is too long overdue!"  
  
"Duo? Is he all right?" Quatre, eyes wide and anxious, rose   
as well. Zechs gave him a disbelieving look.  
  
"Who cares? He murdered my sister!"  
  
"Maybe he didn't."  
  
It was an old argument. Quatre was always the kind one, the one who refused   
to believe ill of any of them.  
  
"There is only circumstantial evidence," the young Arab insisted   
stubbornly, ignoring the glares from their friends. "Remember, Relena   
had all the electronic surveillance equipment disabled back then. None   
of us has even had a chance to ask him his side of the story!"  
  
"How could we?" Wu Fei asked. "He ran."  
  
"There was the fight they had," reminded Noin. "Both Hilde   
and I heard Duo shouting!"  
  
"But not what was said! And what was his motive?"  
  
"He ran," persisted WuFei.  
  
"Enough." Dr. J's voice was sharp. Zechs remained standing,   
obstinate.  
  
"Sit down, boy!" the scientist snapped, exasperated. "Of   
course he mustn't bring Duo back yet. We've not obtained the mission objective."  
  
"As soon as this is ended then," insisted Zechs, eyes flashing.   
He bowed slightly to Heero. "I am in your debt."  
  
"He gets a trial." Heero's gaze was cold, not flinching from   
Dr. J.'s scowl.  
  
"I want to know what the vice lord wants gundanium for. It's not   
often we get some fringe outlaw attacking our secure transports."   
Dr. J's voice took on that particular edge that had, in the days of Heero's   
training, meant swift and painful discipline. The boy's jaw tightened,   
but he refused to back down.  
  
"And I can't concentrate on the mission with that bastard right in   
front of me. Maybe it _would_ be better just to kill him."  
  
"No!" cried Quatre, distressed. "Not without a trial. Heero!   
Promise you won't!"  
  
The others started talking then, arguing, exclaiming, until Dr. J screamed   
at them to be silent. He glowered at Heero who glowered back.  
  
"It's good that you've found Maxwell," the scientist grated,   
"but you have not completed your mission. Have you seen nothing suspicious?"  
  
"Everything is suspicious," snapped Heero before thinking. He   
took a deep breath. "But yes. I finally got those hidden files hacked.   
It looks like there's a rehabilitated section of old dock right in the  
  
middle of Elion's ruined section -- the dead zone. It's got top of the   
line security and can be reached in about a minute and half by Yamada's   
two Tauruses once the alarm is raised."  
  
"Look into it," said Dr. J. "It sounds promising."  
  
The doc hesitated, then continued. "Whatever your personal feelings   
in this matter, they must be subordinate to doing your duty. Acquire the   
data we need, then concern yourself with Maxwell's fate. Now go. Return   
at once to Elion before your absence arouses suspicion."


	7. Part 6

Duo had to admit that as menial, unrewarding jobs went, handling the Complex   
garbage beat scut-running all to hell. For one thing, when the incinerator   
got going, the long room warmed up nicely, which was more than could be   
said for Zoe. Add several torn blankets -- discards from the complex laundry   
\-- and a guy could be almost toasty. There was also very little chance   
of anything blowing up in his face -- although compactor number four was   
making some suspicious noises.  
  
His job included rolling sheets of plastic and sorting other types into   
barrels. He compacted, then melted down metal and glass into blocks, all   
of it for shipment off-station to a nearby recycling facility. The old   
incinerator burned anything not recycled.  
  
The waste water purification unit was in the next room and was also his   
responsibility -- unfortunately. Only two of its three primary filtration   
tanks worked and even those limped along only because he fiddled with   
them constantly.  
  
It had been almost a month since his disastrous escape attempt and Duo   
had nearly healed. He'd seen nothing of Heero, although he heard plenty.   
Everyone in the complex, from the meekest slave to the vice lord himself   
was afraid of the young assassin. And when he found out why, he found   
out something else, as well.  
  
"Aye -- he killed Wufei Chang -- another one of you Gundam brats.   
Just before you arrived, come to think of it. That's one Preventor that   
won't be giving the boss no trouble."  
  
Bordo, Yamada's tall, laconic steward, grinned widely, revealing missing   
teeth. "Took out Chang and a couple o' others without even raising   
a sweat, they say. Yuy's one guy you _don't_ wanna mess with, kid   
or not! Now get them pallets stacked for shipping before the transport   
gets here or I'll decorate your back again!"  
  
Of all the treacherous, hypocritical assholes! Wishing he had the other   
pilot before him to strangle, Duo barely noticed the weight of the pallets   
he dragged across the long room. WuFei dead. Christ. Sure, the Chinese   
pilot had been a prickly son of a bitch, but he'd had courage and he'd   
fought at their sides.  
  
Damn Heero! Duo raged. To give _him_ shit about killing Relena was   
too fucking much! And _he_ was innocent! For a long time, he sat   
by the metal compactor as it did its noisy job, staring at nothing, profoundly   
depressed  
  
Still, it was not Duo's nature to remain despondent for long. He tucked   
the anger where he put everything that hurt and concentrated on learning   
about his new world. The whipping not withstanding, escape was still very   
much on the boy's mind.  
  
The security pellet's limits allowed him to move freely around most of   
the complex, the most notable exception being the space dock. He could   
and did stand in doorways, keeping out of the way as much as possible,   
watching the ships that came and went, the guards' shift schedules, checking   
out who was maintenance and who was security. He'd suggested to a disinterested   
Bordo that a better use of his skills was in Mechanics, but the steward   
would have none of it.  
  
"Nice try. No way a gundam pilot gets any where's near spacecraft,   
tracker pellet or not. Mr. Arcane warned us against it specifically."  
  
The complex housed a staff of respectable size. There were the thirty   
men and women who served as Yamada's personal guard and a full complement   
of mechanics to maintain his small fleet of fighters and cargo haulers.   
There were domestics, cooks and kitchen help, maids and janitors. Most   
were hired, but some were slaves, debtors paying for drug or gambling   
habits gone out of control.  
  
It made for a lot of garbage.  
  
The waste management facility was at the lowest level of the complex,   
nearest to the station's outer hull. It got fearsomely cold when the machines   
weren't going. Few came here who didn't have to. It was dirty, lonely   
work, but Duo made a discovery that brought his spirits -- admittedly   
at an all time low -- right back up again. One afternoon, as he was attempting   
to repair the incinerator's failing exhaust fan, he pulled the crumbling   
pipe away from the wall and found a small metal plate beside it. It read,   
"Putnam-Gray Habitats, Inc."  
  
Elion was a PGH satellite! Duo scraped corrosion off the letters with   
a suddenly shaking hand.  
  
Before falling into the clutches of Dr. G., Duo had run salvage. His first   
job had been with a company breaking down an old colony wrecked by a passing   
meteor. That colony had been a PGHS and the crew had been given the manufacturer's   
specs to aid in efficient dissembling.  
  
Unlike modern colony design, Elion was divided into four great sections.   
Each could be sealed off, which had saved Elion section when disaster   
struck. There were docking facilities in each section.  
  
General access codes tended to be the same from satellite to satellite,   
too. If he could get the tracker pellet out of his body without raising   
the alarm or killing himself, if he could get himself a space suit and   
out into one of the abandoned sections, if he could find some sort of   
vehicle there he could repair in a hurry...  
  
If. His plots grew more fantastic by the day.  
  
So the time dragged by. Duo's life settled into a numbing routine of sorting,   
stacking, hauling, fixing and burning. One night as he sat in his spot   
next to the incinerator, he once again considered appealing to Heero.   
Heero's rooms were in the upper levels, still within Duo's limited range   
of movement. If only he could get into the other pilot's good graces.  
  
Fortunately, whenever he started think stupid crap like that, he remembered   
the look on Heero's face when the other pilot banished him to this netherworld.  
  
Don't think about Heero. Don't think about those big, dark-blue eyes or   
the endearing, bewildered look that crossed his face every time he was   
forced to deal with something that wasn't written down. Don't think about   
any of the pilots he'd thought were his friends.  
  
Christ. He missed them all so much.  
  
"Quit it, you fool!" Duo said aloud, but the memories, once   
released, couldn't stop.  
  
He remembered the safe house in Chicago where Trowa and Quatre had first   
become lovers, remembered his own wistful attraction to their Perfect   
Soldier. Foolishness, of course. Everyone had understood about Relena.   
Duo even remembered, with some embarrassment, his clumsy attempts to seduce   
WuFei. WuFei! God. What _had_ he been thinking?  
  
Still, those had been great times. They had been on fire with enthusiasm   
and idealism, ready to conquer their world, to be heroes. Duo smiled sadly,   
hugging his knees to his chest and resting his head against them. So much   
for the dreams of children.  
  
"Someday," he said to himself, "you'll learn. Some people   
get what they want in this life and some people don't. You're one of those   
who don't."  
  
As he sat, bound by his past, a strange noise intruded on the thuds and   
bangs of his present. It sounded like a crash from the water purification   
room. He shook his head. Great, now he was imagining things.  
  
But when he heard a childish giggle, he straightened, peering around the   
corner of the incinerator. A kid?  
  
Sure enough, a boy of about fourteen came warily into the sorting room   
with an undernourished girl of eleven or twelve in tow. Both were scruffy   
and ragged. Duo moved back, pulling the blankets up to his nose, reckoning   
any glance into the shadows would show only a row of large, numbered recycling   
barrels.  
  
He was wrong. As the pair tiptoed past him, the girl suddenly stopped.   
Tugging on the boy's hand, she looked between the barrels and directly   
at Duo. He stood up at once, feeling slightly foolish under her wide,   
somber gaze.  
  
"Shit!" the boy stared, then would have turned and bolted if   
it were not for the little girl. "Wildflower!"  
  
"Relax," Duo said quickly, holding out open, empty hands. "I'm   
not gonna hurt ya."  
  
"Damn right!" The boy tried shoving the girl back toward the   
storeroom, but she only dug in her heels.  
  
Her eyes were the same color as Heero's, Duo thought irrelevantly. They   
held the same intensity and he found himself struggling to hold steady   
under their regard.  
  
"My name is Wildflower," she announced. "Who are you?"  
  
"He works here," the boy hissed. "He's gonna yell and bring   
someone. C'mon!"  
  
Still she remained, this time stubbornly holding on to the incinerator.  
  
"C'MON!"  
  
"I'm Duo and I'm not gonna bust you," Duo said. "Why the   
hell should I?"  
  
The boy pushed the little girl behind him and glared. Duo shrugged, leaning   
back against the wall, arms folded over his chest.  
  
"I won't tell on you," he said. "Won't help you either.   
Good luck."  
  
This time, however, it was the boy who lingered.  
  
"You -- you haven't seen a bunch of kids, have ya? They woulda been   
\-- woulda looked kinda like us."  
  
"One of 'em has purple hair," the girl added hopefully.  
  
"Sorry, no."  
  
Their faces were so stricken that he quickly added, "but I can't   
go everywhere, you know? Like the docks or machine shops. Why would be   
your friends be here?"  
  
"But you can go everywhere else?" Wildflower ignored his question.  
  
Duo shrugged, more curious by the second.  
  
"Why would they be here?" he asked again.  
  
"Who knows?" The boy sounded bitter. "Yamada's been yanking   
kids off the streets for the last two months."  
  
"We think they're bein' sold," announced Wildflower, matter   
of fact.  
  
"Wi!"  
  
"He's a good man," Wildflower said calmly to her companion.   
"We can trust him."  
  
"How do you know that?" Duo asked cooly.  
  
She smiled and he was caught. "'Cuz I just know. You'll help us because   
you have a kind heart."  
  
Stunned, Duo felt his face heat. Gruffly, he said, "Well, I haven't   
seen your friends. If I was Yamada, I wouldn't be taking kidnapped kids   
around where anyone else would see him, anyway."  
  
"But there might be some clues to their whereabouts. Could -- could   
you help us look?" the little girl asked.  
  
"It's none of my business," Duo pointed out.  
  
Shit. The last thing these kids should be doing was bumbling around the   
complex looking for their pals. "Take my advice. Look somewhere else."  
  
The boy's eyes narrowed sharply. He looked again at Wildflower who nodded   
solemnly.  
  
"You might need a favor someday," the boy said.  
  
Street barter! Duo recognized it at once. He considered the boy thoughtfully.   
If he sort of supervised a search, kept them out of trouble, maybe he   
could get this notion out of their system and them out of here. The streets   
were much better for them than the complex!  
  
"I might, but you don't look like all that much. What good are your   
favors?"  
  
"I know my way around the city."  
  
"Can't see where that's all that useful to me." Duo touched   
the lump in his shoulder.  
  
"You might get lucky. It would suck if you got out and didn't know   
how to dodge the goldies."  
  
Duo grinned. "Okay, deal. I'll help you look. In return, you owe   
me a favor. Now -- just one thing. When we're running around this place,   
you absolutely, positively do what I say, understood?"  
  
They nodded solemnly.  
  
"How the hell did you get in?" he asked curiously.  
  
SB smirked. "Walked in. There was a bunch of kids coming back from   
school. While the guards were staring at the teenage girls, we got past."  
  
Duo laughed out loud.  
  
"Mister?" Wildflower piped up. "We can't stay outside in   
the city anymore. Is there anyplace in here we can hide 'til we find our   
friends?"  
  
"Jeez. You don't ask for much do you?"  
  
"Wi! We kin find something on our own..."  
  
"Shut up," Duo said as the two glared at each other. "I   
might know of someplace."  
  
"Really?" Wi exclaimed. SB shut his mouth with snap and scowled,   
but he was listening.  
  
"It's back in the water treatment room," he said. "It doesn't   
smell real good, but there's a maintenance closet that runs behind the   
walls. It's just for the filtration room, so it doesn't actually go anywhere.   
Still, it's a decent size. You could do worse."  
  
They followed him into the next room. SB wrinkled his nose as they passed   
the sewage tanks. It was a huge place, however, and the closet was way   
in the back. There, the smell was marginally better, although it was still   
damp.  
  
In his early explorations, Duo had found the access panel, one of the   
very few around that wasn't sealed shut. It was dark inside and moisture   
stained the metal walls of the chamber. It was designed for men to move   
about while they worked on the plumbing. These days, that was him. The   
room was six feet high, ten feet long, and four feet deep and would easily   
accommodate two small bodies.  
  
"I've got some stuff going out with the recycling you could use,"   
he offered.  
  
So back they went to the main sorting room where Duo rummaged through   
containers and crates until he found them blankets. Wildflower came away   
with several cracked, but otherwise functional pots and bowls. SB found   
a toy truck with a wheel missing.  
  
Duo pulled the boy aside.  
  
"If you go outside to the stairs by the elevator and go up two levels,   
the food stores are just inside. There's only one camera that works, and   
it's the one right over the door. It tracks back and forth, so if you're   
fast, you can get past. The only thing you have to watch for is night   
shift cooks or kitchen staff."  
  
"Gotcha," agreed SB.  
  
"And remember. If you get caught, we don't knew each other."  
  
"I'll go start arranging our place," Wi announced happily. "Thanks,   
Duo!"  
  
The kids disappeared, Wildflower to arrange their new home, SB to get   
some food. Duo settled back into his place, oddly light-hearted. He doubted   
very much that the kids' kidnapped friends were here. Duo had been all   
over the place -- at least most of it -- and had never seen a sign of   
them.  
  
It was just past midnight and he was tired. Tomorrow he'd see what more   
he could learn about his guests. The little girl was the odd one. Much   
too grown up. Duo yawned and set the incinerator to burn another six hours.  
  
Still, it would be great to have someone to talk to for a while.  
  
 _Wait until they find out who you are._  
  
He closed his eyes tightly. Maybe they wouldn't find out. Hell, they might   
not even know who Relena Peacecraft had been. Out here, it probably didn't   
make one damn bit of difference who was in charge Earth Sphere.  
  
Ah, well, he told himself. Deal with that if it comes -- in the meantime,   
live for the moment. He nestled up to the warm incinerator and pulled   
his blankets tight around him. Closing his eyes, he smiled. For the first   
time in a long time, Duo Maxwell looked forward to the next day. 


	8. Chapter 8

Two members of a rival drug cartel were on Heero's slate for extinction.   
He ambushed one on a lonely space lane between New Greenland and Argus   
Colony 6. The other was messier. Heero had planned for a quick hit in   
an alley behind a nightclub favored by the target. Unfortunately, noncombatants   
wandered onto the scene. They got away with their lives, but with a scare   
that would probably stay with them forever.  
  
Sloppy. His mind wasn't on his work.  
  
Heero returned to Elion. Neither the vice lord nor his lieutenant, Arcane,   
was available, so Heero filed his report electronically and went straight   
to his rooms. Once there, stretching out his legs and settling his computer   
in his lap, he thought of Maxwell for an undisciplined moment.  
  
Duo standing, white as a ghost by the dining table, listening to Heero   
pronounce sentence. Hearing all the loathing and fury in Heero's heart.  
  
The baka had tried running, of course, and ended up on the wrong end of   
a force whip. Arcane had invited Heero to watch. He hadn't gone, of course.   
Arcane was one sick bastard. For a second, Heero imagined Duo bound and   
helpless against the steel pole and felt slightly nauseous. The reaction   
appalled him. Why did he care? Duo deserved all of it and more!  
  
Later, he'd heard they'd put the other pilot to work in the waste disposal   
center, somewhere in the bowels of the complex.  
  
God, thought Heero wretchedly. He had to get out of here!  
  
Every week that passed, it seemed, the stain on his soul grew blacker.   
Elion's gaudy corruption ate at him as he stood bodyguard to the vice   
lord during Yamada's orgies of sex and drugs. It consumed him as he took   
life after life at that vermin's command. Never mind that his victims   
deserved their fate ten times over. It was murder and Heero knew it. Only   
Quatre seemed to sense the danger he was in.  
  
"Leave it. Come home. You'll get yelled at, but so what?"  
  
Yeah. So what? This wasn't the war! He wasn't Dr. J's property anymore.   
It was up to him now to decide when he'd had enough of anything, when   
the cost exceeded the reward.  
  
 _And I've damned well had enough of this slime pit!_  
  
He went to the window, staring out at the crumbling buildings, the distant,   
moisture stained walls. He thought of Duo again. Why?  
  
WHY?  
  
It was that question, that lack of clear motive for Relena's murder that   
continued to confound Heero, to let doubt creep in where once he had been   
so certain! The impulse struck him to go down and find the bastard, confront   
him again, demand an answer.  
  
But Heero had been trained to quash impulses, to rein in the sudden flush   
of emotion before it jeopardized his mission. He turned away from the   
window and by the time he returned to his seat and his computer, he had   
put Relena's killer right out of his mind.  
  
***  
  
Duo helped the kids look for their friends throughout the complex, but   
after four days, they had exhausted his territory. It was enough time   
to learn that their street-smarts were as well-developed as his, but that   
didn't stop Duo from worrying when they began venturing further afield   
without him.  
  
They were good kids. Fiercely loyal to each other, SB and Wildflower were   
determined to find the rest of their little family. Duo could not blame   
them, remembering Solo and the others. It had been a long time since he'd   
thought of those times.  
  
Still, as the days crept by, they always returned, sometimes filthy from   
crawling around little used corridors and rooms, and always with long,   
disappointed faces.  
  
One night, Duo came out of the storeroom to find them sitting in his spot   
near the incinerator, wrapped in ragged blankets .  
  
"No luck today, huh?"  
  
Their long faces tilted up. He hunkered down beside them. "Hey, what's   
wrong? You can try again tomorrow, right?"  
  
"They aren't here." SB sounded like he was ready to cry. Wildflower   
looked grim.  
  
"We've searched and searched," she acknowledged, "and there's   
no sign of any of 'em."  
  
Duo reached over and pulled his own blankets from their nearby heap. The   
incinerator was out and he could see his breath. Automatically, he reached   
up and turned it on.  
  
"Sorry," he said finally. "If I was like this friend---this   
guy I know, I could hack into the system, but I'm not that good -- not   
for Yamada's security, I guess. Already tried."  
  
There was no sound for a while except the whooshing of the heating elements   
inside the incinerator and the distant clunk as, next door, the disposal   
tube at the bottom of a filtration tank opened.  
  
"So what are you going to do?" Duo asked finally.  
  
"I dunno," SB said. "Can we stay here for a while longer?"  
  
'You can stay here as long as you want," Duo replied, unable to stifle   
the little leap of happiness. "It's okay with me."  
  
"Just long enough for the heat to die down," SB said. "'kay?"  
  
"Maybe they're somewhere else in the colony?" Duo suggested.  
  
"Where? Elion's the only liveable section and we've looked all through   
it. Everything else is dead zone."  
  
They were gloomily silent.  
  
"Hey! It sucks about your friends, but you know what? You're alive   
\-- alive and well. You gotta keep thinking about that! Survival's the   
best revenge, after all!"  
  
He gave them a bright smile and watched their faces lighten. SB nodded.   
Wildflower, after studying him for several long moments, suddenly scooted   
over to cuddle up against him.  
  
"Thanks," she said. "For helpin' us."  
  
It had been a long, long time since anyone had been that close to Duo   
and meant him no harm. The simple gesture of trust and approval had the   
unexpected effect of raising a lump in his throat. He looked at SB who   
was staring miserably at the floor, clenching and unclenching his fists.   
Duo remembered the day he accepted Solo's death. He remembered that he'd   
had to face that alone. He lifted Wildflower and set her on the other   
side of him, then reached over and put his arm around SB's thin, slumped   
shoulders.  
  
"It really sucks," he said. "Sorry, dude."  
  
SB sat rigid and Duo thought maybe he shouldn't have touched the boy,   
but a few moments later, SB slid over and buried his face in Duo's shirt.   
He began to cry. Then Wildflower was crying, too.  
  
Duo held them both until the sobs quieted. They were asleep quickly after   
that, exhausted by their grief. He smiled a little, brushing damp hair   
from Wildflower's high, pale forehead. Gently disentangling himself, he   
made sure they were well covered with the blankets. Then one by one, he   
carried them into the next room and tucked them into their now-homey little   
niche behind the wall. He turned on the old space heater he'd found and   
fixed, then returned to his place.  
  
Pulling his own blankets close, he thought about the future, such as it   
was. The kids needed to get off the colony. That should be their next   
priority, not just sitting around waiting for the chance to go out into   
the streets again. But what could he do about it?  
  
Yawning, he tussled with the problem, eyelids growing heavy. He was almost   
asleep when the sound of the door opening brought him back to alertness.   
Heavy footsteps made him jump to his feet. Who the hell was coming all   
the way down here?  
  
Goldies!  
  
He froze, staring. There were three of them. One curled his lip and jerked   
his head toward the door.  
  
"The boss wants you, pretty boy."  
  
"W-what for?" He didn't move.  
  
"What do you think?"  
  
There were three of them. They all guffawed loudly and when one advanced   
on him with shackles, he knew absolutely what they wanted. Memories of   
Zoe overwhelmed him and he started punching. They punched back until one   
of them shouted that Arcane "didn't want no bruises!"  
  
Then Duo remembered the kids. Shit! They might come to see what all the   
commotion was about.  
  
He stopped struggling then and with the goldies muttering threats under   
their breath, went where they told him.  



	9. Part 8

Michael Yamada lay back among the cushions, eyes half closed and fixed on Arcane's shapely hands. The other man's movements were precise as he reduced the somatine rock to powder. First the quick chopping, the musical sound as the blade met the glass, then the brief whisper as Arcane gathered the powder into a pile. It lay, glittering and seductive. Arcane drew a long line with the golden blade and rocked back.  
  
"Ready, love."  
  
Michael accepted the ivory reed. Putting it to his nostril, he inhaled the drug, then fell once more into the softness heaped around him. Music came from the next room, a lilting, popular melody that he especially liked.   
"So, Arcane, you said we would be entertained tonight."  
  
"Indeed."  
  
The blond man stretched out alongside him, lean, powerful form seeming to glow. The drug hit Michael like a tsunami and, for a moment he felt his eyes roll back. A shudder ran through him. Arcane's hands, so fine, rested lightly on his belly. Michael had asked him once about the old scars there, but Arcane had only laughed.  
  
"The war," he'd replied, as if that explained everything.  
  
"What of Yuy?" Arcane asked now. "Has he faced up to his new present?"  
  
"He still refuses to see him." Michael sat up, regarding this most enigmatic and fascinating man with sluggish annoyance. "It's been over a month now."  
  
"What do you think of him?"  
  
"Maxwell? What's to think?" Images of that unkempt, filthy little savage rose in Michael's mind. "I believe the creature is working somewhere about the place."  
  
It seemed to Michael that he missed something in the blue gaze that met his, but Arcane said only,  
  
"Have you seen the 'creature' lately?"  
  
Michael opened his mouth to dismiss Maxwell, then shut it again. Nothing Arcane said or did was meaningless. Nothing.  
  
"No," he said.  
  
Arcane smiled and Michael, who could not help himself, smiled back. Then the fair-haired man sat up, saying loudly,  
  
"Bring him!"  
  
Straightening in surprise, Michael heard cursing, clanking and shouting. The door flew open and in a startling replay of Maxwell's first appearance, the slight figure was shoved forward by irate guards to collapse in a tangle of well-formed limbs and steel chains.  
  
Today, however, the matted tangle was neatly combed and plaited into a hip-length, gleaming chestnut rope. The dirt had been scrubbed from a slender face just taking on the hard, clean lines of manhood. Beneath the black slave uniform, his body was lithe and muscular. _This_ was the same youth dragged from the pits of Zoe?  
  
Maxwell got to his feet, hands gripping his chains in fury tinged with no small amount of fear.  
  
"God in heaven," breathed Michael, stunned. "He's perfect."  
  
"Not quite, but very close," Arcane agreed softly.  
  
Licking his lips, Michael leaned forward. "Come here, boy."  
  
The young face lifted proudly; Maxwell didn't move.  
  
Arcane laid a hand on Michael's shoulder, holding back the vice lord's angry exclamation. Graceful as always, he rose and approached the suddenly wary captive. Reaching out, he touched the boy's cheek and Maxwell flinched back, eyes narrowed and bitter.  
  
"I thought I was Heero's."  
  
"And yet," said Arcane softly, "Heero appears to care nothing for you."  
  
That hurt. The violet gaze darkened and fell away. Arcane's little smile widened. Again he reached to touch the boy and again the boy recoiled.  
  
"Don't," Maxwell whispered finally, but with little hope of being heeded.  
  
"Why not? Would you prefer death? That's surely what awaits you if you leave Elion."  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"With all of Earth and Earth Sphere hunting you -- almost certainly," corrected Arcane. "You would not have escaped justice hiding on Zoe, but if you please us, not only will you live, you may even live in comfort. Or perhaps you enjoy handling other people's garbage?"  
  
The slender jaw tightened. "It's cleaner than what you're askin'."  
  
"You'll do what you're told!" snapped Michael.  
  
Arcane said, amusement coloring his words, "Don't be foolish, boy."  
  
"What's with you, anyway? Why make yourself up to look like Milliard  
Peacecraft?"  
  
Michael caught his breath. Without missing a beat, Arcane slapped Maxwell hard.  
  
"Maybe he just looks like _me_!"  
  
The moment of ungoverned rage vanished as quickly as it had come. Bemused, Michael watched his lover, composure regained, smile again..  
  
"Come to me," Arcane ordered, more softly yet.  
  
But Maxwell only shook his head, taking a step backwards, then another. With seemingly inexhaustible patience, Arcane pursued. After all, thought Michael distantly, where could he go? Sure enough, in no time at all, the beautiful boy's back was against the wall and the misery in his gaze pronounced. When Arcane stroked the shining hair, he turned his head and closed his eyes.  
  
_You know what's coming, boy. Look at you tremble and scrabble for more defiance._  
  
No response.  
  
"Don't fight us, Maxwell," Arcane said softly.  
  
He moved suddenly, this gundam pilot, almost as fast the assassin whose loyalty Michael Yamada was determined to win. Michael opened his mouth to shout a warning, but Arcane, to his surprise, was even faster.  
  
The blond man caught the blur of fists and used the captive's forward momentum to pull him close. Maxwell fought like a wild thing, swearing with a fluency that lifted Michael's brows in reluctant admiration. Arcane held him fast, patient, until at last the struggles weakened.  
  
"Leave me alone!" The hoarse voice ached.  
  
Arcane quietly folded the slim, trembling body against his own. Michael's eyes narrowed on his lover's aquiline features. Indeed, Arcane's gentleness seemed sincere.  
  
"But I cannot," Michael's lover crooned to the terrified boy. "You must do something for us, little one. You must make Heero fall in love with you."  
  
No answer. The youth stood perfectly still in Arcane's grasp, looking at the ground.  
  
Arcane reached under Maxwell's chin, lifting the white face.  
  
"You're nuts, aren't ya?" whispered the boy. "Fucking out of your minds."  
  
"Little prick!" Michael jumped to his feet, reaching for the crop that lay on the table beside the cushions.  
  
But Arcane held up a cautioning hand and a dark look made Michael sink back to the pillows.  
  
"I think you can do it," continued the man. "I think, perhaps, he already loves you."  
  
Harsh laughter shook the black-clad form. "You _are_ nuts! He thinks I killed his girlfriend! You might win his loyalty by lettin' him kill me, but _love_ me? Jeezus!"  
  
"I would suggest you try." For some reason, the angry replies seemed only to amuse Arcane. "And we will help you. After all -- don't they say that pity is akin to love?"  
  
Now that strong arm tightened and fear flared again in the boy's vivid eyes. Maxwell tried to squirm from Arcane's grasp, but could not. Inexorably, he was led across the room to the pillows and Michael. With a sudden move, Arcane pushed him down on his face, a fist in the flimsy black fabric of Maxwell's shirt. It tore away, leaving the slim, well-muscled torso bare.  
  
Michael leapt on the boy before he could recover, finding that absurd braid and wrapping it around his fist until his knuckles pressed against that slender neck. He pulled the lad up to his knees where he remained, rigid with dread. When Arcane sank gracefully to the cushions behind him, the captive flinched, pressing his lips together in a white line.  
  
A pulse beat at the slender column of throat. Michael released the braid and leaned forward to taste the boy's white skin, vaguely aware that Arcane's hands had settled firmly on the Maxwell's shoulders, holding him still.  
  
Duo Maxwell tasted of cheap, harsh soap, of sweat and fear and pain. Michael shivered at the pleasure of it and wanted more, but as he touched his tongue to the hollow at the base of the boy's throat, Maxwell was suddenly a maelstrom of movement again, tearing free of Arcane's grasp, smashing Michael in the mouth with his shackled wrists and snarling.  
  
Pain shattered Michael's soma-enhanced senses and for a moment, he could not even scream. Dimly, he heard Arcane's roar of anger followed by an anguished cry.  
  
Michael lay where he'd fallen, the echoes of pain gradually fading. He sat up finally. Arcane had the little slut face down on the floor beside the cushions and was refastening Maxwell's wrists at his back while the youth bucked and struggled.  
  
"The injector," ordered Arcane, holding out a hand while the other pressed firmly into the small of the thrashing slave's back. Michael wiped the blood from his mouth, wanting nothing more than to break the hellspawn's neck. Instead, he snarled and handed the item to Arcane, who set it against Maxwell's shoulder. Long minutes crept by, stretched by soma, and finally the boy's struggles ceased.  
  
Arcane rolled him onto his back. Maxwell's face was wet. Tears seeped out of the corners of the wide eyes. Bruised lips parted.  
  
"Oh, God..." Michael heard, the words a despairing breath.  
  
Bending over the supine form, Arcane claimed Maxwell's mouth. There was no longer resistence. When the man drew back, there was no reaction. Michael took his turn then and the swollen lips parted under his at once. Michael felt his eyes rolling back in pure pleasure. He could taste Arcane in the boy's sweetness. Exploring deep, he felt the small whimper rising in the captive's throat and swallowed it.  
  
At last, having his fill, he released the slave. The boy lay perfectly still between them, body loose, eyes hazed by the drug.  
  
"There is nothing I would rather do," whispered Arcane, stroking his open palm down the boy's heaving chest, drawing delicate circles on that flat belly, "than to make love to you, to ease pleasure from your very depths, to see you dance with the joy of it. But alas, Duo, that is not to be."  
  
Maxwell closed his eyes then and a shiver ran through him.  
  
Leaning over the boy, Arcane deposited a chaste kiss on the thin, wet cheek. "Be sure to tell Heero about this," he whispered.  
  
Then he turned Maxwell onto his belly. Together, they stripped the trousers from the youth, revealing a firm, round ass. Arcane took the crop from the table. The boy neither moved nor opened his eyes. Michael wet his lips, lust trembling through him as his exquisite lover lifted the whip and brought it down hard across the boy's scarred back.  
  
Violet eyes flew open, blank with the shock of it. Ten times the pain, thought Michael, touching his own bleeding mouth. Nothing like somatine to put the edge on everything..  
  
_Different than your first taste of lash, isn't it, slut? One blow feels like five! Enjoy._  
  
With Michael holding the brat still, Arcane beat him with delicacy and precision. The fourth blow fell, then a fifth. Drugged, his every nerve open wide, Maxwell finally screamed. At the tenth blow, he was begging them to stop. Arcane finally did, rocking back on his heels, flushed of face, eyes glittering.  
  
Not one drop of the boy's blood had been spilled. Exquisite.  
  
Michael was afire with lust. He watched, licking his lips as Arcane brought the shaking boy back to his knees. Then, calmly, Arcane opened his silk robe, revealing his own magnificent cock, rigid and seeping.  
  
"Pleasure me, boy."  
  
Maxwell stared at Arcane then lowered his head and opened his mouth.  
  
Arcane purred, hands gripping that bowed head, holding it still while he began to move his hips. Michael watched, heart pounding, groin on fire, hearing the small, choking sobs of the slave as his mouth was raped. Then it was Michael's turn.  
  
How wet and warm were the lips that parted to take him in, how exquisite the boy's struggles to breathe. Too soon, Arcane gently drew the lovely creature away from Michael. Feverish with soma-enhanced need, he watched Arcane push the boy back down on his face and lift the slim hips. Michael's lover, with a sly, upwards glance, parted those welted buttocks to reveal Maxwell's tiny, puckered hole.  
  
There was no intent to prepare the youth for the invasion. His comfort was, after all, not at issue here. Quite the opposite. Arcane oiled Michael's aching cock for him, then guided it to that portal. The vice lord heard a muffled plea that he ignored and pushed hard into the boy.  
  
Curiously, Maxwell made no sound under this new assault, but his hands knotted in white-knuckled agony. Michael soon forgot everything in the great, rolling  
waves of pleasure overwhelming him. Faster he moved, driving deep into the tight, tight sheath. He came at last, his exultant roar echoing through the chamber.  
  
When he pulled out with Arcane's tender help, his cock was bloody. The boy lay unmoving among the cushions, harsh breathing the only sound he made.  
  
Michael wet his lips. "God," he gasped. "Ah!"  
  
Arcane kissed him gently. "Indeed," he whispered. "And now that's done, I want you, my love, not this child, but you."  
  
Michael nodded, sighing as Arcane, with a sweet smile, cleaned him off. Then, with one foot, the blond man pushed the boy from the pillows. Maxwell rolled onto the bare floor and lay there. Forgetting him, Michael leaned forward and melted into his lover's arms.


	10. Part 9

To get to the old C-Section, one had two choices. The easiest way -- and naturally the most dangerous for Heero -- was to go outside and around the colony to Section C's space dock. Unfortunately, the colony's exterior was well-covered by a video system he knew was monitored twenty-four hours a day. That meant taking the alternate route, through the dead zone itself.

There were no security cams in the dead zone's blasted corridors. He would simply have to be alert for hazards -- floating junk and jagged metal that could reach out and puncture suits.

Elion was a PGH. Noin had given him the specs before he arrived. This particular PGH had some custom work, tunnels that didn't show up on the standard specs. According to them, the best way into the abandoned sections was via one of the many old maintenance tunnels that ran under the city.

The docs thought Yamada was building armor or a weapon of some sort. It was a disturbing thought. Either one, fashioned from gundanium, would be a lot of trouble for the Preventers.

There was an access panel behind his bookshelf that led into the maintenance tunnels. This particular feature was the reason he'd chosen this apartment. The panel had been sealed a long time ago, but he'd opened it, then put his own security in place. Now, keeping the specs firmly mind, Heero made his way through the dirty, forgotten labyrinth, avoiding tunnels still used, back-tracking when a few were unexpectedly blocked. Finally, he came the massive wall separating this section from the next. 

At the airlock, he had a couple of bad moments when it looked as if the controls wouldn't respond to his code. They finally kicked in, however, and he was able to pass without incident from the living Elion into the land of the dead.

Elion had been the site of a particularly gruesome wartime event, the Sunside Massacres. Alliance soldiers had stormed the colony, looking for rebels. To this day, no one knew if they had found them. No one knew who had starting firing in absolutely the wrong place. Three of the four station sections had blown out. Thousands had died instantly. If there were such things as ghosts, Heero thought, they would be here.

He got out of the maintenance tunnel as soon as he could for the more direct, if more dangerous, main corridors above. His helmet light illuminated an eerie, ghastly world of floating debris and even frozen bodies. Heero, intent on his mission, simply pushed them out of his path.

Once his objective was accomplished, there would be nothing in the way of justice for Relena. Heero had promised to bring Duo back to Sanc, but the more he thought of it, the less he liked the idea. Sanc had no death penalty. Instead, they had a grim fortress on the edge of a desert where the most evil of men were locked away. 

Duo had served the colonies well during the war, been a brave and loyal comrade. He'd sacrificed as much as the rest of them for the uneasy peace that followed. 

A lifetime alone in the dark -- Heero's soul quailed. Death was a much greater mercy.

Ahead, he saw light. Slowing his drift along the passage, he put out his torch and found his weapon. The light brightened as he got closer. His corridor turned. He saw the cameras mounted, covering the last few feet before the room beyond. Heero watched them track to the left and right, counting under his breath as they made their circuit. 

Yamada might be careless of security within his complex, but here he was all business. Arcane's doing, no doubt. The cameras were out of sync, moving at random speeds. It was going to take speed, agility, but mostly luck. Heero hated depending on luck -- mainly because he rarely had any.

For a change, however, it was with him. He made it past the first set of cameras and into a long, narrow chamber with big doors lining the far wall. There were crates and barrels tied down to the deck to offer concealment. Even with his suit on, it was numbingly cold.

Now he had to wait, counting off the minutes before his pre-programmed worm began eating its way through the security files. Ninety-six, ninety-five, ninety-four...

...three, two one. He moved, pushing away from the wall with all his strength, sailing across the ice-rimed metal deck to the airlock. He punched in the code. 

Nothing happened.

Heero swore softly and waited a few more minutes. Maybe his worm was taking more time than he'd reckoned. Sloppy. His concentration lately was shot to hell and he blamed that entirely on Maxwell. The son of a bitch. Heero had counted on the old adage, out of sight out of mind.

Maybe that was the problem. Maybe he should get Duo back, keep the baka under his watchful eye. 

Heero had a sudden memory of his former friend and secret crush. They had been ordered to meet and get instructions for the next mission. The meeting place had been the beach, the day hot. They'd come in bathing suits except for Duo, who'd worn ragged denim cut-offs. Always different, Duo, always pushing at the limits of the docs' patience.

He remembered vividly how his heart had leapt at the sight of that slim, pale body, the unconscious sensuality in the way Duo had shrugged and given them all his beautiful, mischievous grin. Heero remembered -- oh, how he remembered! Flat stomach, ribs just barely visible. Tiny, rosy nipples. Heero recalled with a flush how he'd wanted to suck on them. It had been just an instant, a half-wish he'd banished at once. Even so, there had been an uncomfortable few minutes of trying to sit on his beach blanket so his interest hadn't been visible to the others.

Now Heero swore softly and bit hard on his lip to banish those memories. Duo had caused enough trouble in his life. He got what he deserved in this hell! And yet...

He entered the code again with angry, staccato pokes and, again, nothing. A chill ran down his spine. His worm had been detected. There was no other explanation. Skin crawling, he looked around, but saw no other surveillance devices. It was possible that the worm was discovered by some lowly tech who would assume someone had brought it in, unknowing. There might not even be an alarm raised, the tech not wanting his inattention discovered.

Putting his helmet back on, Heero tried not to be too disappointed. He hit the door controls, more in frustration than in any real expectation that it would open.

It opened! 

He waited as the pressure equalized, then walked through and into the dock. His heart almost stopped.

It was a gundam -- or something damned close! But where their gundams had been massive, blockish things, this was almost delicate. Sixteen meters tall, and easily seven tons, its limbs were elongated and slender. He could not see where they joined the trunk, so seamless was the connection. The head reminded Heero of some mythical bird. 

The left leg had been damaged and he saw evidence of clumsy repair. Repaired with gundanium.

Heart thumping, Heero palmed the control that turned his face shield dark. Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself off from the deck and floated up to have a closer look.

*****

Duo's life settled into a new rhythm. He worked hard by day, stomach knotted with dread as he waited for Arcane's next summons. Exhaustion became a fact of life. There were moments when he caught himself standing blindly in the middle of the room, machines clattering and thumping around him, and couldn't remember where he was or what he was doing. Then everything they did to him, everything they made him do, would come back.

The kids were a bright spot in all the misery. They rambled around the complex now at will, alert to all the dangers. It was just another mean street to them, just another perilous world in which to survive.

Duo did what he could to help, keeping an eye on the endless stream of junk coming through the conveyer belt for things they would find useful. Their little cubbyhole was quite cozy now, and if Duo didn't have goldies popping in unannounced to take him to the penthouse, he would have spent all his free time there.

His greatest worry was Wildflower's health. It seemed that she grew frailer as the days passed. Finally, he snuck into the infirmary and stole some antibiotics.

"She had pneumonia," explained SB. "I thought she was all better."

"When?"

"I'm fine."

"'Bout two months ago."

"I'm FINE!"

"Shut up and take your pills," Duo had roared. "I don't have any money for funerals, especially for little girls who don't know how to follow good advice."

She'd taken the drugs, but they hadn't seemed to help her.

"You need a doctor," he said now.

They were all sitting in Duo's little alcove behind the recycling bins, wrapped in tattered blankets, playing cards. Duo was teaching them poker. It was a frustrating exercise for SB, who had never learned to read or do arithmetic, but Wildflower caught on in a snap and was soon making Duo work for his victories.

"Damn straight," agreed SB. "You never seen no one as sick as she was. Shit, there at the end you looked dead."

"Yeah," she said, eyes going dreamy. "Yeah. There was an angel."

"Loony," SB jeered affectionately. "There wasn't no angel, that was me."

She giggled and set down a royal flush. SB wailed and buried his head in his hands.

Sadly, the bright moments became fewer and farther between. Arcane's summonses came more frequently. Several nights a week were spent in a drugged haze, with nightmarish memories the next morning. Duo would awake stiff and aching, usually just outside the recycling room, piled like the garbage he sorted by the door. 

Sometimes, he woke in the infirmary.

Duo tried not to remember what happened to him in the penthouse, but the drugs always wore off, leaving him shaken and sick with humiliation. Yamada and Arcane. Over and over he saw them, felt their hands on him, watched himself reach eagerly to pleasure them, submitting to any indignity rather then suffer the punishment that came from disobedience. In fact, there was only one thing he refused them. He would _not_ run crying to Heero! He would not beg that asshole for help.

It was Wildflower who found him one night sitting crosslegged in the middle of the room, all the machines stopped and garbage heaped at the end of the conveyer. It was so cold, Duo could see his breath when the little girl shook him awake. 

"You're dreaming," she told him, "with your eyes open."

He nodded. What had he been doing? How long had he been sitting there, mind in shutdown?

"They're giving you drugs, aren't they?"

"Nah. What makes you say that?" He got to his feet, swaying, and started moving garbage again. Soon the incinerator was back up and running. His teeth chattered.

"You shake all the time now," she said. "Even when it's warm in here. Don't be an asshole, Duo. We know it ain't your fault. SB says Arcane's probably giving you somatine to keep you quiet."

"What do you know about Arcane?"

She didn't answer but turned toward the door. It opened and SB scooted through. Duo shook his head. He'd swear the girl was psychic or something. She always seemed to know when there was someone coming. It came in handy, what with goldies popping in and out.

SB had a box under his arm. Cookies. Wildflower squealed in delight and jumped on him. He held it out of her reach, teasing her. Duo watched the two of them with wistful pleasure. He remembered his own childhood and those moments when it didn't matter that they had no parents, no school or no home. They had each other to laugh with, to stand by, to care about.

SB claimed to have no memory of his parents. Duo knew he lied. On the other hand, Duo completely believed Wildflower's similar claim. There was something about those too-old eyes, the quaintly grown-up way she had of talking. Duo never quite knew what to make of her.

They ate the cookies, giggling. Duo told them stories of L2, of daring raids, narrow escapes, games you could play on rooftops and in alleys. When the two kids were around, he forgot who and what he was. He could be the old Duo, cracking jokes, laughing.

"You guys need to get off Elion," he said one night. 

"Amen to that," SB agreed. "But how? You gotta have ID and an exit permit from Yamada."

"We could stow away," Wildflower suggested. They had just recently discussed Duo's exit from L2 all those years ago.

"Won't work -- at least not with Yamada so paranoid," Duo told her. "It was war in those days -- crazy -- no one was keeping a very close eye on stuff, ya know?"

"Where would we go anyway?" SB demanded. "They wouldn't let us live on our own, would they?"

"It isn't so bad letting people take care of you." Duo smiled, remembering Sister Helen chasing him around the church kitchen, trying to land him for a bath. "You could go to school."

SB made a face. "Don't want to."

"But it's fun. I was going to school before -- before..." Duo broke off and shrugged.

"SB's scared 'cuz he can't read and everyone will laugh at him."

SB turned bright red and said fiercely, "Wi! Not true!"

"Readin' ain't hard," Duo told him cheerfully. "Shit, I learned. If I could do it, anyone could do it!"

SB sniffed, but he looked pensive a moment.

"I'll teach you." Wildflower fluttered her eyelashes at him and he blushed.

"You can read?" he snorted. "Since when?"?

Wildflower, nose in the air, snatched up an empty detergent bottle that had fallen from a bin and proceeded to read off the label. Duo's eyes got round as the chemical names spilled easily from her lips.

"Yeah. She can read," he pronounced, adding to himself in chagrin, "better than me."


	11. Part 10

Another drug dealer dead. The man was scum with six murders to his credit, including an infant, so why did Heero feel so damn filthy?

He walked moodily along the corridor. It was late. Thoughts of bed enticed, but Yamada had another job for him -- three of his biggest pushers were here and there was a party. Heero, who had just stretched out for a good night's sleep, resisted the impulse to tell his boss to go to hell. Instead, he got up, and in a black mood, got dressed again.

He reached the penthouse and was at once surrounded by drunken, drugged party guests. Again came the impulse to turn back and Yamada be damned, but the knowledge of what was hidden in the abandoned dock on the far side of the colony's curve made him hold his tongue and his annoyance. Damn, he hated this!

Heero heard the noise of the main party before he reached it, the loud laughter, the shrieks, the clink of glassware and, over it all, smelled the sweet miasma of drugs. He barely noticed the revelers as, discovering him in their midst, they scrambled hastily aside to let him pass.

Inside Yamada's quarters it was the usual scene of chaos, of half-naked and naked bodies, of spilled drinks, and indiscriminate groping. He tried to hold his breath against the drugs but it was futile. Instead, he located Yamada and headed through the crowd in that direction.

"Yuy!" greeted Yamada blearily, raising a glass. "Good man. Success, I assume?"

At his side, eyes clear as a summer day, Arcane watched. Trying not to let that eerie sense of familiarity spook him, a terse Heero made his report. Yamada cut him off with an expansive wave.

"Excellent, excellent! I knew you were the best investment I've ever made and soon..." The vice lord broke off, leaning forward, voice dropping, "we'll have a new job for you, Yuy."

"Yamada." Arcane's voice, smooth, soft, nevertheless made the vice lord straighten and flush. He threw a rebellious look at his lover, but it was his gaze that fell first.

"Thank you for your report," Arcane told Heero. "We'd don't expect any trouble tonight, but be vigilant."

"Sir." Heero nodded tightly and withdrew to a far wall, as close to the fresh air vent as he could get. There he stood, ignoring the occasional blandishments from passing guests and hoping he wouldn't have to break someone's hand. He tried not to breathe too deeply of the potent atmosphere. It was a half hour later when a commotion across the room drew Heero's attention. 

Duo! 

The youth in the doorway did not lift his head. When Arcane tugged at the leash fixed to a collar around that slender neck, Du stumbled after him. 

What the hell?

Heero hadn't seen Duo for over a month and wasn't sure what he'd expected, but it sure as hell wasn't this. The brown hair was neatly braided and Duo wasn't as thin as he had been right after Zoe, but he cringed when Arcane set a hand on his slender shoulders. A tremor shook him when Yamada stood up and in front of the room full of people, claimed his mouth in a long, impassioned kiss.

Heero was entirely unprepared for the sudden and inexplicable rush of anger that made him straighten against the wall. 

There was spotty applause. Yamada drew back, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Seizing that braid, he spun Duo around, jerking on it to force the prisoner's white face up so everyone could see the expression there. Heero's throat closed.

"So, my friends, what do you think of my latest plaything?"

Duo blinked several times, as if coming to his senses, and tried to turn his head, but a savage tug forced it back. When Yamada, with a lusty roar, tore away the boy's brief tunic, Heero had to close his eyes. For the first time, it occurred to him that refusing the vice lord's "gift" might have had unanticipated consequences. 

Whoever had used Duo before had not been gentle. He wore the angry welts left by whips or belts, the splotched scars that were the marks of a glowing end of a cigarette. Bruises were everywhere.

"He's very resilient," slurred Yamada, running a hand down Duo's nude, shrinking body. He seized one of the boy's wrists, pulling it back when Duo tried instinctively to cover himself. "I was wondering just how resilient and I thought-- aha! -- I know! Let my friends play with him!"

Cheers rose all around. Duo stared straight ahead, gaze slightly unfocused.

"How many of us can you take, little one?" crooned Yamada, releasing the braid to stroke back flyaway strands of hair. "Five? Ten? Twenty?"

No answer. The amethyst eyes closed. 

"Ten!" someone shouted. "Ten before he faints!"

Another called. "My money's on six."

A guest pushed through the crowd, dragging a padded bench with him. Several more grabbed the prisoner and pulled him to it. The fog blinding Duo seemed to suddenly dissipate and he made a terrified sound. Spinning around, kicking, he knocked the man backwards. Uncharacteristically clumsy, he swung his fist, missing another man and connecting with third's chin. 

It was a foolish effort, and futile. The guests, with howls of either anger or delight, converged upon him. Heero angrily pushed away from the wall and waded into the fray. As soon as the intoxicated guests realized who was pulling them back, they quit their protesting and hurriedly withdrew.

Duo curled on the floor beside the bench, arms over his head. When the blows stopped, he didn't move, but remained utterly still, utterly rigid, new bruises forming even as Heero watched. His breath was coming in shallow gasps.

Heero bent over and pulled Duo to his feet. The boy swayed in his grip and finally opened his eyes to see who had him now.

"Heero," he whispered.

Clearly, Duo expected no mercy and stood, trembling, lips pressed tightly together. Heero took hold of the leash. Turning, he stalked to the door, dragging Duo after him. From the corner of his eye, he saw Yamada open his mouth, face reddening. Then Arcane was there, putting his arms around the vice lord, pulling him back down to the cushions, whispering in his ear.

Outside were more guests who stared wide-eyed after Heero and Duo. Most of them had better sense than to comment, seeing it was the assassin helping himself to the evening's entertainment. Duo said nothing, walking after him. Through the complex they went, silent, and up the stairs into the quiet of Heero's apartment. 

In the haven of his rooms, Heero took off the leash and threw it aside. He didn't trust himself to speak. Duo, misunderstanding completely, stood with his head bowed. When Heero stepped closer, he stumbled backwards. Coming up against the wall, nowhere else to go, he finally looked up. His eyes held equal part of pleading and defiance. His lips quivered. 

"Whatcha gonna do with me, Yuy sama?" Duo whispered.

Heero had no idea. Maybe it was the drugs, but the entire scene at the party had affected him in a powerful way, above and beyond his anger. He was violently aroused and ashamed for it. Even so, without realizing what he did, he leaned forward and brushed his lips against Duo's.

Duo froze. Then the battered lips parted under his. Heero tasted blood and drew back. A sigh escaped the other boy. Tears crept out from under the lowered lashes. When Heero put his hands on Duo's shoulders, the other boy made no attempt to resist, to object, to do anything but lean forward and let Heero taste him again.

As he had been all too often lately, Heero was again struck by his own bewildering attraction to Duo. Back during the war, when Trowa and Quatre had started falling into each other's arms, he'd thought about Duo, but it had never come to anything because in the end, sex was a distraction and soldiers who allowed themselves to be distracted died.

However, this was not a gundam safe house and the war was over. The people back in Yamada's suite would not think twice about what he wanted to do to _his_ Duo. And Duo?

"It's all right," came the soft, hoarse voice. "I'd rather you than all of them."

Nothing could have killed Heero's half-acknowledged lust so thoroughly as that faint, resigned voice. 

"How often," Heero said finally, stepping back, "does that sort of thing happen?"

But Duo only shook his head and, as if standing required too much strength, slid silently down the wall to crouch at Heero's feet. Once again Heero was assailed by desire. It was the atmosphere of that hideous room, he thought desperately. It was the fog of drugs in the unhealthy air that made him reach down to stroke the bowed head. 

Why had he never acknowledged to himself how much he wanted the other boy? How had he resisted the lushness of Duo's mouth or the graceful arch of his throat? How could he have ever resisted the slim, perfectly formed body? 

"Stand up," he said.

Duo obeyed, leaning against him without a word, warm and pliant. Heero found it easy to wrap arms around him, to hold him gently, mindful of the hurts. It was nothing more than echoes of the war, Heero thought, when they had been comrades and he had half-carried the other pilot from the depths of the Oz prison. And yet...

"Rest," Heero said, setting him away. "We'll talk in the morning."

There was vague surprise and relief. "Okay. Th--thanks."

The American climbed into Heero's bed and, as close to the edge as possible, lay down. 

"Move over." Heero said, fearing that Duo would fall off during the night.

The boy did as he was told. When Heero stripped down to his underwear and climbed in he was aware at once of the tensing body beside him, the sudden intake of breath.

"It's all right," he said, keeping his voice low and himself on the other side of the bed. "I won't touch you. Sleep."

Duo stared at him so long Heero wondered if, for some reason, the other boy hadn't comprehended. Then Duo nodded and closed his eyes. Within seconds, it seemed, he was asleep.

****

Morning. Duo woke slowly, reluctant to do so completely and lose the dream of being on something soft, wrapped in something warm, safe...

NO! 

He sat bolt upright knowing he was _not_ safe! He was with Heero and Heero wanted him dead!

On the bed beside him, the dark-haired boy's eyes snapped open and, with the speed of a trained killer, he too was up, reaching out a hand. Duo shrank away.

At once, Heero sat back against the headboard. The boys stared at each other. Had he actually been sleeping in Heero's arms? Had Heero actually kissed him? Heero? Shit. Now he was really confused.

"I have to go to work," Duo said finally. "I'm already late."

"You're not going anywhere."

"You said you didn't want me." 

"You killed Relena," Heero replied, low-voiced, "and you deserve to face justice, but damn it, this isn't justice."

Disappointment cut straight through him. Duo flew out of the bed then and fled to the bathroom, slamming shut the door. He heard footsteps pounding after him. 

"Open the damn door!" Heero's voice was sharp with annoyance and the door shook under his pounding. "Maxwell!"

"Leave me alone! Let me go back to work! I don't want to stay here with you, damn it!"

There was silence, then the door crashed inward, knocking Duo back against the shower stall. Balance already uncertain, thanks to the remnants of last night's soma, he fell, banging his knee against the toilet.

"I don't care what you want," the Perfect Soldier said in that dead, cold voice. "What _I_ want is to take you back to Sanc to face the people whose lives you've ruined. You're not dying here, Maxwell. It's too damn easy."

Easy? EASY? Duo thought of the men who had used his body over the past month, of the beatings and the loneliness. He thought of Zoe and of the cold and fear that dogged every step he had taken in that place. Closing his eyes, he decided that if he looked one more second at Heero's handsome face, he would smash it in.

Well, okay, he could try to smash it in.

"Get up," Heero said then. "I'll find you some clothes."

"Wouldn't you rather have me naked?" Duo inquired with false sweetness. He got back to his feet and faced the other pilot, fists clenched at his sides. "Save you the trouble."

"Of what? Do you really think I would lay a hand on you in that way? I was drunk on the damned smoke that was everywhere last night."

"Right." Duo gave him a wide, false smile. "That's why you kissed me. I got it."

Heero hit him then, which obscurely pleased Duo because it meant that, for just a fraction of a second, Heero lost control. Licking blood from his lips, he shrugged. Heero swore again, softly, and turned on his heel. Duo stayed where he was until he heard the apartment door slam. Then, feeling suddenly hollow and numb, he crept back to the parlor and curled up at the end of the couch. It seemed there was a permanent lump in his throat.

For just a little while last night, he had felt wanted, almost forgiven. Fool! Maybe he should just give up -- do whatever Heero said and face Zechs, Quatre, Trowa -- all of them. The need to weep nearly overwhelmed him. He clenched his teeth on it and took breath after deep breath until the impulse faded.

Still, it looked like the only way out of the hellhole was Heero. And Heero, it seemed, was not what Duo had thought him to be. He touched his mouth again, remembering the kiss. 

Heero didn't come back. After a while, hungry and bored, telling himself he didn't give a flying fuck what Heero might do, Duo began to go through the other boy's things. He'd hoped to find a gun, but was disappointed. Well, hell -- like Heero would leave one lying around with _him_ here. 

Then, as he groped through the neatly folded clothes in the bottom drawer of Heero's dresser, he found something hard and flat. It was a picture of all five of them and Relena. Heero stood with the then-princess, his arm over her shoulders. The others flanked them. Duo looked at the picture of himself beside Heero. That other, younger Duo, smile wide and free as the sky, mocked him now. The boy returned the picture and closed the drawer. Then, finally, he wept.


	12. Part 11

Heero was at Yamada's office in record time and with little memory of getting there. Somehow, things never seemed to go the way he wanted when Duo was involved. He thought about that yielding body against his in the night, the soft murmuring as Duo cuddled close against him.

No! The mission. The mission was important. Everything else was just disrupted hormones and neurotransmitters. 

Arcane was seated behind his desk, Yamada nowhere in view. How much longer would the blond man be content to run the drug-soaked vice lord's operation from the shadows, Heero wondered?

_Who are you? I know you, don't I? DON'T I?_

But none of his angry curiosity showed in Heero's face as he took a chair before the desk and pretended unconcern. 

"I want you to see something." Arcane touched something on his desk top. On the wall behind him a screen appeared. 

Heero's heart lurched. His blood flooded with adrenalin and it was hard-won control that held him in his seat. He watched himself floating across the bay with its startling secret, an anonymous figure in an anonymous pressure suit.

"What did you think of the mobile suit?" Arcane asked, not looking up. Eyes cold as the blue ice they resembled were fixed on Heero's face.

"What are you talking about?"

Arcane didn't bother responding to that. 

"Is this a Preventer operation?" the man asked instead.

Exquisitely watchful, Heero shook his head. Arcane remained seemingly relaxed, elbows on Yamada's desk, one palm supporting his elegant chin. He showed no unease of any sort.

"You got a lot ice around some of your computer files," the boy said finally, "I noticed when Mr. Yamada had me sweep for viruses. I got curious."

"You got curious." Arcane's voice was flat, disbelieving.

Heero shrugged. "Sure. I like to know all the exits and entrances. Secrets make me nervous."

"You're paid enough not to be curious."

"No," Heero replied, fixing the man with a cold stare. "I'm not."

Silence stretched between them. Danger shrieked up and down Heero's nerves. On the screen, the tape ran through the loop once, twice, three times...

"Looking for a little extra to line your pockets?" Arcane asked finally.

"Why not?"

"Why not, indeed." Arcane's head fell back and he laughed. When he straightened, he nodded.

"Interested in taking that out for a spin?"

Heero's mouth dropped.

"We've been working on the cockpit and think we've got the basic controls. All we need is an extraordinary pilot -- say someone who used to fly a real gundam?"

"I -- hell, yes!" Excitement rose to push aside his fear. "What is it? A new design?"

"Who knows? We found it." Arcane leaned back, arms behind his head, grinning. "One of my people was heading back from the Outer Colonies and he started tracking something coming from the direction of Jupiter -- moving fast. It disappeared into the Takahashi asteroid field and, a minute or two later, he reported seeing an explosion."

"Jupiter?" The hair rose on the back of Heero's neck. "Are you saying this is an _alien_ suit?"

"Could be. Want another, closer look?" Arcane invited, eyes sparkling slyly. 

"Hell, yes!"

Fear, Duo -- everything was forgotten in the realization that he was on the brink of accomplishing his mission and in a way no one had expected.

Heero followed Arcane from the office, descending in a private lift to the docks where Yamada's personal transport was kept. He climbed in and sat down beside the blond man, skin prickling, but Arcane said little as they left the dock and began the quick circle of the colony. C-dock came into view. Lights flashed as the bay door slid open, admitting them to a familiar facility.

The mobile suit was where he'd last seen it, silent, solitary under its lights. The two men scrambled out of the transport and onto the cold decking, magnetized boots hitting solidly. 

At the far side of the room was a door and large observation window. Beyond was a lab. Heero had seen it on his first and apparently not so clandestine visit here, but hadn't wanted to linger long enough to explore it.

"What happened to the pilot?" he asked finally.

"That's a very good question. Come." 

With a backward look at the mobile suit, Heero followed Arcane to the lab. Lights came on, several concentrated above a small, transparent cryogenic storage unit. In it was another mobile suit, identical in appearance to the larger one in the dock outside, but only four and a half feet tall. The helmet had been removed. It lay beside the suit and looked to be filled with a grey, spongy mass from which protruded several wires and tubes. 

It looked like a severed head, Heero thought suddenly, skin creeping. Aloud, he asked,

"A robot pilot?"

"That's the most logical assumption." Arcane sounded faintly amused.

"You don't agree?"

Arcane was silent a moment. He stared down at the object in the case. "Maybe this suit held a living pilot, but not a human one. After all -- consider its possible origins."

"Then -- the pilot may still be alive?"

"That was my thought at first. So we labored to re-attach everything. We found, interestingly enough, that while the life support systems started working again, the suit remained inert. Even when we attached it to its ship, there was no reaction. 

"The most obvious conclusion is that the pilot was killed when we disconnected the helmet. Rather like decapitation, I suppose. Still, there is another possibility. It's an unlikely one, but I'm a careful man." 

Arcane's eyes became distant. Then he shook himself. His eyes cleared and he smiled brightly. Crossing the room, he opened a cupboard and came back with another helmet. It was covered with small electrodes and power cells. Wires fine as hairs crisscrossed its roomy interior.

"This helmet is designed for us ordinary humans. You will use this to control the alien ship."

Heero didn't much like the sound of that. He took the helmet. 

"You'll be the first."

"Maybe I'd rather some one else did a little basic testing first."

"If you're afraid," smiled Arcane, "we can always use Maxwell."

Heero's heart lurched and stumbled. "No!"

"Why not? He's good."

"He's good -- and he'll run if he can. I - I'll do it," Heero replied.

Shit. A possible alien suit? His duty was damn clear on this one. Taking Duo to Sanc would have to wait. If he actually got the suit to work, he was gone!

"Excellent," replied Arcane, "and just in case _you're_ thinking of making a run for it -- consider this. If you do -- I will have Maxwell sent to one of Michael's little establishments off-colony. There, he will be re-employed. Remember how he was when you found him last night? Imagine him subjected to that and worse every day."

It felt like a large hand wrapped around Heero's gut and squeezed. 

"What do I care?" he managed. 

Arcane's smile sent chills up Heero's spine. He knows how I feel, the young man thought and gooseflesh lifted the hairs on his body. He knows ... but how?

"Indeed," purred the enigmatic man. "What do you care?"

"I'll bring it back," Heero said flatly and meant it.

"Oh, I know you will." Arcane smiled beatifically. "Do enjoy yourself."

Heero nodded. Putting on the helmet with its alien technology gave him butterflies. The minute he felt danger of any sort, it was coming off. Then, checking the seals on his suit, he went out to give the mysterious mobile suit a try.


	13. Part 12

It was mid-afternoon when Heero returned to his rooms, blood singing with triumph. The alien mobile suit had proved astonishingly easy to pilot. One more time out and Heero would have the system down cold and then -- _then_ he was taking it to the docs and -- somehow -- Duo to Sanc.

He opened the door to his rooms to find the young man in question asleep on the couch, nude body tightly curled on the cushions. With a pang, he remembered that he'd promised to bring Duo something to wear.

Chestnut hair had come loose from the braid, spilling in an undisciplined mass over the edge of the couch to brush the floor. The sight was unbearably erotic and Heero nearly ran to his bedroom.

He soon discovered that Duo had been snooping. The picture wasn't quite where Heero had left it. Looking at the photo made Heero angry all over again, but when he stalked to the door, intending to wake Duo, he found himself simply staring. He realized abruptly that he was clenching his fists so tightly his fingers hurt. Looking at Duo's friendly, open smile in the photo, then at the thin, white face half-buried in the crook of an elbow, Heero again felt that inexplicable sense of loss. Nothing in either face revealed the murderous intent of the man who'd killed Relena.

Heero's rage evaporated like the dew. What if he was wrong? What if they all were? What if Duo was telling the truth?

_I may run, I may hide, but I never tell a lie._

The evidence, although impressive in volume, _was_ circumstantial. Duo might indeed have found Relena dead, might have stupidly pulled the knife from her body, might have panicked and fled. As a child of the streets, Duo Maxwell didn't necessarily think of the law as his friend. 

Heero silently cursed Relena's relentless idealism. She had been adamant that it was trust that ended wars and conflict between people. To be an example, and against all advice, she had ordered the palace surveillance system removed. Had she left it in place, they would have known beyond a doubt whose hand had driven the knife into her breast. 

A sound from the couch brought Heero back to the present. Duo sat up, blinking sleepily at him. Then the pale face shuttered. Heero turned on his heel and went back to his bedroom. He returned with a pair of his own jeans and a t-shirt.

"Here." He tossed them at Duo and retreated. "Get dressed."

The other boy said nothing, only got off the couch and began to pull on the clothes. His hair kept getting in the way and Heero watched him push it back dispiritedly again and again. Finally, unable to stand it another minute, Heero strode across the room.

"Stand still!" he barked when Duo started to move away. "Sit down," he added, making an effort to moderate his voice. 

Apprehensive, Duo nevertheless sat back on the edge of the sofa and waited, hands clenched tightly in his lap. 

Heero brought the brush from the bathroom and watched Duo's eyes widen. 

"I've always wanted to do this," Heero admitted, half-laughing and feeling foolish.

"You're kidding, right?" 

"No."

"Oh." Then: "Don't pull too hard, okay?"

"Hai."

Taking a deep breath, not looking at all sure about this, Duo flipped back his hair and sat straight. Catching up a handful, Heero pulled the brush through it and almost immediately ran into a snag.

"Ow!"

Heero remembered a story Duo had told them about his braid and how he'd come to have it.

"How long did it take Sister Helen to make order of this chaos?" he asked.

There was a surprised silence, then a small chuckle. "Two hours."

"You're lying."

"Nope," replied Duo, adding piously, "She was a saint."

"She must have been. I'd have hacked it off first thing."

"Why don't you do it now?"

"Because I like it." Heero hesitated. "I, um, used to wonder what it would be like if my hair was that long."

"Why didn't you let it grow?"

Heero shook his head, remembering Dr. J.'s derisive snort.

_Certainly not! It would get in your way, it's conspicuous, it's a convenient handle for those chasing you, it's unhygienic, and you would look like an idiot._

"Doc J wouldn't let ya, huh?"

"How did you know?"

Duo shrugged. "He's a total bastard, that one."

One handful of gleaming hair was now smooth. Heero went to the next, drawing the brush through it, and watched more of the tension melt from the other boy. Before he knew it, Duo was slumped against the back of the couch, his head fallen back, eyes closed. Heero wrenched his gaze from those slightly parted lips.

"Damn, that feels great," Duo murmured. "You sure you wanna make me feel so good?"

"Sit up," retorted Heero, giving it a gentle tug. "It's time to braid."

Obligingly, Duo straightened, tucking his legs under him. "I'd have liked to have seen it."

"What?"

"You -- with a braid. Betcha all the girls would go wild. It's not like you're _ugly_ or anything. In fact, Hilde told me once that she thought you were kinda cute. Of course..." Duo broke off, tilting his head up, eyes meeting Heero's. They held the old sparkle. "There's no accounting for taste."

Once, Heero would have called Duo _baka_ and told him to shut up. Now he just shook his head and grinned.

Duo's hair, neatly brushed, was smooth as silk, heavy in Heero's hands. He began to braid, careful to make the strands even and precise. Done at last, he let it fall free. Duo seized it, pulling it around to give it a critical examination.

"Not bad."

"It's better than you can do."

Heero waited for the smart-ass retort, but it didn't come. Instead, Duo ducked his head, hiding his face and wrapping the braid around his hand. "Yeah," he said finally, subdued, "you're prob'ly right." He took a deep breath. "Don't hit me, okay, but -- why are you here, in this place, working for these people?"

"It's a job."

"Bullshit!" Duo was on his feet, braid swinging wildly, slender hands knotted into fists. "You've got skills and strengths no one else has and you're selling them to the slime on Elion? Sorry, dude, but this is me you're talking to. No way."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Heero's heart lurched and speeded up. He found it incredibly difficult to meet that direct gaze.

"Yeah, you sure are," agreed Duo, "but the question is \-- why?"

"Yamada pays..."

But Duo continued to shake his head. "I don't believe it," he said flatly. "Just remember this, Heero Yuy -- _I_ don't automatically assume the worst about other people. You're up to something and I wouldn't be surprised if you were really..."

Heero, acutely aware that he may not have neutralized all the surveillance devices in the apartment, shut Duo up the only way he could think of at that precise moment. Grabbing the other boy by the front of his shirt, Heero yanked him over and kissed him.

"Mmmg--mmmmmmm." 

What started as a desperation attempt at silencing the baka turned into something else entirely. Duo, after his initial attempt to pull away, went still, opening his mouth, body melting against Heero's. The dark-haired pilot let go of his shirt, wrapping arms around him instead. 

Needing at last to breathe, Heero pulled away, staring at Duo who stared back, pale except for two spots of color on his cheekbones. 

"Heero?" Faintly.

"You always talk too much."

"Yup," Duo agreed promptly and kissed him back.


	14. Part 13

He was certain this was a dream. Duo stood in the protective circle of Heero's arms, feeling the other boy's mouth on his hair, the hard, strong hands sliding under his shirt, pulling it right back off again. Everywhere Heero's fingers touched left a delicious heat.

Wing's pilot nuzzled Duo's throat, then stood back, eyes moving over the half-naked boy hungrily. 

"Heero..." Unexpected panic rose in Duo and he fought it down. This was Heero! This was the guy he'd been fantasizing about for years!

"Shhh." Heero's lips touched his, the briefest of caresses, but again enough to silence him. Duo closed his eyes, feeling the other boy's mouth move down to the hollow of his throat, then to the soft flesh around his armpit. He lifted his arms, locking them behind his head, body arching into the insistent lips and tongue. 

If he pleased Heero...oh, God! 

Heero's tongue lapped at one nipple, hardening it to a pebble and making Duo whimper. His knees turned to water and he fell backwards onto the couch. Heero was after him, pushing Duo's hands away when he tried to get up, bending over him instead, continuing to suck at those tiny nubs. 

"Ahhh!" Heat flashed through Duo in waves, "Heero!"

"You sure this is okay?" the other youth asked hoarsely.

The sight of uncertainty in that dark blue gaze left Duo momentarily speechless. 

"Y-yeah," he stammered. "Sure, it's okay."

There was a quick flash of a grin, something rarely seen. The boy sank to his knees beside Duo on the couch. Bending forward, he seized Duo's chin and tilted it up, covering his mouth with kisses.

Shivers ran through Duo. When Heero drew back and plucked once again at his nipples, he managed,

"Not bad. Have you been practicing?"

"Instructional tapes," Heero replied, utterly serious, rolling Duo's aching nubs between his fingers. Duo made a small sound, the pressure in his groin nearly unbearable. 

Heero was kissing him again. Duo's mouth opened. The other boy's tongue went deep while sure hands slid down Duo's chest and belly. He felt them unsnap the jeans. There was a confused moment, both of them breathing hard, as he got them off and kicked them away. Hungrily, Heero kissed him again.

Gently but inexorably, those roaming hands nudged Duo's legs further apart. Strong fingers wrapped around his stiffening cock. Duo gasped, hips thrusting helplessly into Heero's grip. 

Duo felt his eyes roll back, Heero's kiss getting deeper, more intimate. The other boy lifted his head, looking into Duo's wide, dazed eyes. He smiled and Duo's heart turned over. Then Heero lowered his head and pressed his lips against Duo's swollen nipples. His cock already prisoner in Heero's unbreakable grip, this new attention sent shockwaves of heat through him. 

"Omigod!"

"I'm not hurting you, am I?"

"No," whispered Duo, then gasped, feeling teeth sink gently into his nipple. "Oh!"

Heero's other hand moved silkily over Duo's balls, caressing them briefly. Duo trembled when he felt those long, slim fingers push against his hole. 

And then, hideously, a voice rang in his head:

__

I said wider, little fuck! WIDER! I'm ready to go again!

Duo pushed Heero back, unable to breathe.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Duo managed a cocky grin while his heart banged and crashed about in his chest. "I want to try somethin'."

He slid from the coach as Heero, bewildered and trembling with need, shifted around to stare at him. 

"Sit back," Duo advised, "feet on the floor."

So Heero slumped back into the cushions, legs akimbo, Duo knelt between them. Heero caught his breath when Duo unzipped his jeans. He lifted his hips at the whispered order and made a small, eager sound when his pants were removed. 

Naked, he didn't resist when Duo pushed his legs apart and slid callused hands down the soft flesh of his inner thighs. The Perfect Soldier sat open and waiting. 

"You okay, Heero?"

Heero nodded. His sex was hard as a rock. Duo bent forward and, delicately, teasingly, ran his tongue up the swollen vein on its underside. Heero's hips jerked and he nearly slid from the couch. When Duo took the hard, heavy sex in his mouth, the other boy moaned, head falling back against the cushions.

Who would have known, thought Duo distantly, that Yamada and Arcane's cruel tuition would be so useful!

A light sheen of sweat gleamed on Heero's skin; his muscles were strung fine as wire. Duo gently attended to his most private of places, lips caressing the taut flesh, tongue laving cock and balls until he whimpered.

Now Duo seized his knees, pushing them up, forcing Heero to roll back. Instinctively, the dark-haired pilot seized them, holding himself open and ready for whatever Duo chose to do.

"Good boy," approved Duo and his tongue traveled down to the exquisitely sensitive flesh under Heero's balls. 

Heero jumped. Duo's hands continued a gentle stroking of the tense thighs, then Heero's narrow buttocks, gently pulling apart the latter. His lips whispered along the cleft. Instinctively, Heero shifted, exposing more of himself, Duo's tongue teased around his anus.

"What are you... Duo... Ahhhh!"

Duo's tongue forced its way past the muscular barrier to probe inside. Heero shook and shook. Abruptly, he lost his grip on his legs. He sat up, hands catching Duo's face between them.

"I -- wanna fuck you." Heero's voice was a rasp. He trembled and there was a wildness to his gaze that both frightened Duo and excited him. Yet, even as his body ached for Heero, dark fears teased at the edges of his thoughts. 

If he refused, would Heero get mad?

"A--all right," said Duo and stood up. Feeling Heero's gaze burning into his back, he went to the bathroom and returned with a tube of genium jelly. Heero was sitting up now, feet on the floor, knees open. His eyes didn't move from Duo.

Without speaking, Duo handed the lube to Heero. This would be hard, but hell, he should be used to it by now and if Heero decided to keep him....

"Tell me how you want me," he whispered.

Something flashed in those indigo eyes. Heero stood and Duo was kissed again, most thoroughly and with much more confidence. The caress left him tingling. 

"Into the bedroom," came the husky command.

Duo obeyed, acutely aware of the other boy at his heels. He reached the bed and, without being told, lay himself face down across it. He heard Heero's sigh. When he felt those strong, hard hands kneading the twin globes of his ass, he almost lost it, the panic like a storm of darkness. 

_This is Heero. This is Heero._ It was a mantra that kept him from shivering apart.

He opened his legs. For a moment, the hands drew away. Automatically, well-trained, Duo lifted his hips, pulling his knees under him. He moaned as a slippery finger pushed into him, then another. It was a little sore, but not too bad...

"Oh, god!" 

Heero's fingers found the sweet spot.

"Is that it?

"Yessssssssss."

For a long time, Duo could do nothing but writhe helplessly as Heero acquainted himself with the American's responses. Again and again, he stroked the prostate until Duo's breath was coming in shallow gasps. Not once had Arcane or Yamada cared for his pleasure like this.

Then those devilish hands lifted away and something slick and much bigger than those two slender fingers pushed against Duo's hole. Again came the fear and again he desperately pushed it back.

There was a grunt from Heero, a moment's stab of pain, then the other boy was inside him.

"So good...." whispered Heero thickly.

Duo was beyond speech. Heero was so big! He could do nothing but cling to the rumpled bedclothes as the other youth held still a moment, hands sliding up and down Duo's flanks. 

On countless lonely nights, when their missions had them scattered across the face of the earth, Duo had dreamed of something like this, of being filled by Heero, of that narrow hand moving over his skin. Such things had been very much on his mind when he'd lain on his bare mattress in some deserted house, listening to Trowa and Quatre in the next room. Hell, who was he kidding? He'd wanted Heero for a long time.

Be careful what you wish for...

The hands gripping Duo's hips tightened suddenly, convulsively. Heero slammed into Duo with such force that pain shocked him to breathlessness. He clenched his jaws on his instinctive cry of protest -- held himself still when every instinct shrieked at him to throw off the invader, to run like hell.

He tried to breathe and couldn't, body shaken by the strength of the young warrior inside him Once, twice, three times, Heero drove deep. Finally, with a hoarse cry, he pushed as far into Duo as he could.

That final thrust pushed Duo across the bed, dragging him past his threshold of control. He buried his cry in the sheets, feeling the all-too familiar sharp pain that meant trouble. He gritted his teeth against the spasms of the cock inside him as Heero spent himself. Then, the almost-pleasure long since gone to pain, he prayed desperately that Heero was happy and that it was over. 


	15. Part 14

Heero had never imagined sex could be like this. He lay on Duo, feeling the other's racing pulse begin to slow. Finally, carefully, he pulled away, rolling onto the bed beside the boy. He felt as if he were floating.

"Uhhhhh." Duo stirred.

Heero sat up, enjoying the warm languor that filled him. He looked down at himself and froze.

His softening cock was covered with blood. There was more blood on the sheets. Stunned, horrified, Heero couldn't speak. Heart pounding again, he got to his hands and knees. "Duo!"

"Mmmmm. What?"

"I hurt you!"

There was silence. Duo's eyes were fixed on the wall beside the bed. "Musta torn open again," he said finally. "Sorry. It'll stop soon."

Heero was sick with dismay and shame. He remembered the party, the familiarity with which Arcane had fondled the boy in front of all those people. What the _hell_ had he been thinking? 

Abruptly, Heero got out of bed and left the room. When he returned, wet washcloth in hand, Duo's head was buried in the crook of his arm. 

Without a word, Heero cleaned the blood from them both. It seemed like an awful lot. "I'm getting the doctor."

'No!" 

In shock, Heero saw Duo scramble up, pain twisting the beautiful face. He seized Heero's hand.

"Don't! Okay! There's no...."

"No what?"

"Safety for me there," the boy whispered. "Please, Heero! I'll be fine, honest!. It'll stop in a little bit. It always does! If \-- if you just gimme a few days -- shit, I give pretty good head, right? \-- and -- and tell _them_ not to touch me, I'll have a chance to heal."

"C'so!" Heero pushed away from the bed, anger tight in his throat. "How often do they rape you, Duo?"

The other boy's mouth opened and closed. He gave a helpless, angry little shrug.

"No more," Heero said finally, grimly. "They brought you here for me. I'm taking you back."

Duo said nothing. Once, Heero thought suddenly, regretfully, the American might have argued, or teased.

Heero went back to the bathroom. When he returned, he handed Duo some pills. 

"Painkillers," he said soberly when Duo stared. "Take 'em."

Duo's hands shook slightly, but he did as he was told.

"Why didn't you stop me?" Heero burst out.

Violet eyes were bleak. "And have you give me back to them? You think I'm stupid?"

Had Duo enjoyed any of it, wondered Heero miserably, or was he as bad as that slimy Yamada?

"If -- if you promised to confess and face Sanc justice, I'd take you away now and the hell with everything else..."

"Everything else. What is everything else?"

Cold reason brought Heero up short. There was something about Duo that encouraged others to underestimate him -- to their peril. The survivor of L-2 was sharp as nails. 

"None of your business," he snapped before thinking.

"Come on, Heero. I know you don't want to talk about it, but I don't think there's anyone to overhear. You did a good job on the bugs."

Heero's initial disquiet faded, replaced with the old, familiar feeling of amused exasperation.

"There may be more."

Duo shrugged. "I doubt it. You ever been down in the sub-basement of this place? It's a fucking rats' nest of broken cables, burned out circuits, corroded junction boards. Shit. I dunno where the hell Yamada's putting all his money, 'cause it sure ain't here."

Heero knew. He said, "I gotta go -- a meeting with Yamada. I'll be back soon."

"What about me? Do I have to sit around here all day? Doin' the goddamned recycling is more fun!"

Heero's mouth tightened, but he resisted the impulse to fire back. Instead, he said cooly, "I'll have groceries sent up. You can cook dinner. Make the stew, the one with the apple juice."

Duo opened and shut his mouth. "You -- you remember that?"

"Sure. I liked it."

He left Duo staring and headed off to Yamada's offices.

*****

To say Duo was surprised by this turn of events would have been to indulge in understatement. He was flabbergasted. He leaned against the door after Heero had gone, dazed, his mind in a whirl. Heero remembered the stew? Wow. 

They had been in one of their many safe houses, just him, Heero and Quatre, waiting for Oz to move out of the area. It had been autumn, cold and clear, with mornings that brought low, grey clouds racing across the empty fields. They'd found an abandoned cabin in an orchard. Heero had gone for supplies and come back with some beef and onions. 

Sister Helen had taught all the orphans to cook. As she might have said, Duo had used what the Lord provided that day. The result became a favorite by unanimous agreement.

And Heero remembered. 

Again Duo was faced with hope that he desperately pushed away. Too many times he'd been wrong. Too many times his dreams ended up dashed to pieces at his feet. It was best if you simply didn't let hope get a foothold.

Duo showered and after that, with little else to do, dressed and lay down on the couch. He found himself strangely reluctant to use Heero's bed without permission. Lying on his side, he tried to sleep, but his gut hurt in spite of Heero's pills, and when he got up to use the bathroom, there was more blood. It stained Heero's jeans. Christ. It was worse than he'd thought. He should never have let Heero fuck him.

_Like you had anything to say about it, slave._

He didn't want to go back to Yamada's doctor, god in heaven, he did not. The man would patch him up, but for a price and in the only currency Duo possessed. 

In the end, Duo stuffed toilet paper between his buttocks and "borrowed" another pair of jeans. After that, he lay down again, figuring he might stop bleeding if he didn't move. He drifted in and out of restless, hag-ridden sleep, only to wake at the sound of his name.

"Duo! Duo! Wake up!"

He lifted his head and frowned. The loud whisper came from nearby, but he saw no one. He must have dreamed it. Sitting up, sudden dizziness rushed through him. His ears buzzed. He just made it to the bathroom and this time, there was a hell of a lot of blood. Ah, shit. Just when things were looking up!

Back to the couch Duo limped, but this time he heard a knock on the door. For a second he wondered if the sound was a hallucination, like the voice, borne of the heat in his blood. He checked anyway and found himself facing a slave with a box full of food. Duo took it and got it to the kitchen before weakness dropped him to his hands and knees.

Take deep breaths. Get back to the couch. 

"Duo!"

There it was again, but louder, and this time, he recognized the voice. Wildflower?

"Where the hell are you?" he croaked.

"Here!" came the high, light voice. "Here, Duo!"

He crawled because it was easier and the distance to the other room was short. A small wooden bookshelf stood against the wall. He leaned against it, pushing it away from the wall -- a job that was more trouble than it should have been. Behind it was an access panel. A shiny new bolt held the panel firmly shut. Heero's careful work, no doubt about it. 

"Here!" came Wildflower's voice again, very close now. His hands shook violently, but he got the bolt open, watching in vague amusement as the ragged child tumbled into the room. Duo reckoned it would be another five minutes before SB appeared, looking for her.

"It's the mole," he greeted her.

"What's a mole?" She brushed off the usual adornment of cobwebs and dust.

"A rodent," he replied, "that lives in burrows and tunnels underground. Earth animals. None up here."

"You're sick again," she announced. "Me and SB heard that the assassin took you back."

"You don't look in much better shape." 

Her delicacy was turning to transparency. The skin around her mouth and eyes seemed almost green. Then dizziness washed over Duo again. He folded to his elbows and felt blood running, hot and wet down his leg. 

"Duo!"

"I'm just a little tired. Just a sec, okay? Gotta got to the bathroom."

Small arms came around him. Bewildered, he tried to look at her, but the girl was stronger than her frail appearance suggested. Either that, or he was weaker. 

"Be still," Duo heard and, in his weakness and confusion, it seemed as if the words were inside his head. "Let me heal you, little Duo."

Little Duo? He laughed, breathless. "You being so big and all..."

Shhhh. 

Warmth suffused him. He could not see nor hear, wasn't sure if he was breathing -- god! Reason melted. He was simply _there_ , a kernel of consciousness held in something powerful and gentle and deeply angry. 

"Let me heal you...."

A wave of heat raced through him, focused on his gut. His eyes flew open. 

And there was no more pain. It was gone. Completely gone. He lifted his head and was presented with a pair of small, denim-clad knees.

"Wi?" Profoundly reluctant, he nevertheless raised his eyes to meet hers. There was a look in them he'd never seen before. He was reminded of an ancient expression -- "not of this Earth."

"Who -- who are you?" he whispered.

She settled, cross-legged, beside him and set something down on the floor nearby. Her little hands helped him to sit. The something was a glass of water. Duo drank greedily. She was wheezing, as if what she'd done had taken strength from her. 

"I wasn't sure if I could do that..."

&ququotWi, you're scaring me." His heart was pounding. "Just who the hell are you?"

"A traveler -- here by unfortunate accident. My ship crashed on an asteroid in your Takahashi Belt. Several critical systems were damaged so I was not awakened as I should have been."

"Lemme guess," Duo said. The pain might be gone, but he felt weak, wrung out. "Yamada found you."

"Arcane." She spat the word with loathing. "He's the clever one. Yamada would never have known what he found, never got past the security system and into the cockpit!"

"What do you want with me?"

"I need you to pilot my ship."

He stared. She laughed shortly, the adult expression jarring on that small, piquant face.

"I know you can do it. I've even figured out how to rewire the navigation system for your species -- I hope. You've piloted a gundam and my ship is very similar."

"My _species_?" 

She nodded, her small mouth quirked in a crooked smile.

Duo wrestled with the basic concept. He wasn't sure whether to be scared out of his wits or fascinated. "You're a real alien? Honest to God? You look just like a human."

"This is not my body." The girl plunked her narrow behind on the carpet and regarded Duo with her direct, unnerving stare. He noted absently that a fine mist of perspiration glistened on her face.

"This poor child's brain had ceased functioning within seconds of my finding it. It was extraordinary luck. Another minute and half and it would have been completely useless. As it is..."

"You steal bodies?" Duo swallowed hard. "W--what do you really look like?"

"We have no form," the not-child said patiently. "When we're not on our own world, we occupy constructs call _drins_. You would call them very sophisticated, miniature mobile suits, I suppose. At any rate, when Arcane succeeded in opening the cockpit and finding my _drin_ , they attempted to dissemble it, destroying the neural connections in the process. I was forced to flee."

Duo tried to picture this in his mind and failed.

"On other worlds and in space, to be without a drin is almost a death sentence. I would have literally dispersed had I not found Wildflower's body. It is failing, however, greatly weakened by its previous owner's illness. Furthermore, it's been a long, hard job trying to re-arrange the neurology in order to activate what you call my extrasensory abilities. I'm afraid, in so doing, I've damaged it even more. My only hope for survival now is to get it into stasis There is an emergency container in the ship for just such a situation. That's why I need you."

"You -- you can read minds?"

"Yeah, but only lately. Even so, it's harder than it should be."

"You -- you saw everything that -- that's happened to me?" Duo's chest hurt from the pounding of his heart. His hands were clammy and he curled them into fists.

"I saw." Suddenly there was pity in her voice. "You've had a hard life, Duo Maxwell."

He laughed at that. "So you want me to take you home?"

She shook her head. "It's not possible. As I said it was an -- an accident that I'm here at all. What I'm asking, Duo, is for you to take the Typha and me -- get us out of Arcane's hands and hide us somewhere. I can stay in my stasis chamber indefinitely and you will be free."

Free. Like hell.

"Okay. Suppose I do help you. Suppose I find someplace to hide the ship -- although where the hell that would be I have no idea! What will you do then?"

"In stasis, time stops. Someday, maybe a thousand years from now, our people will find me. The moment I crashed, a signal went out, undetectable by your technology. It will eventually reach my system and my people, if they can, will come for me. But it will be a very long time..." she broke off and shrugged, looking sad.

Duo took a deep breath. "M-man! This is a lot to hit a guy with, Wi. I -- I guess I could help, but if I stay, there's a good chance I can convince Heero to help me clear my name, or at least...."

"SB's coming," she said abruptly.

A few seconds later, the boy's head poked out of the maintenance tunnel.

"Hey! This is cool!"

With a rattle and thump, SB arrived. He grinned at Wildflower and Duo. "What's goin' on?"

Wildflower's small mouth closed, ends down-turned.

"Huh? Somethin' wrong?"

"What about him?" Duo asked, fixing Wildflower with an earnest stare. "He kept you alive."

She looked away. SB, now acutely aware something was up, looked from one to the other with growing disquiet.

"Wi?"

The little girl gave Duo an angry look. He remembered the way it felt to have her in his mind, the way she had healed his broken body. 

"Think about it," she said. "C'mon, SB! We gotta go."

"What? What the _fuck_ is goin' on!"

"I'll tell you everything," she said impatiently, "but not now." Her eyes glinted with a warm, sly, very adult light. "Duo has dinner to make."


	16. Part 15

He was certain this was a dream. Duo stood in the protective circle of Heero's arms, feeling the other boy's mouth on his hair, the hard, strong hands sliding under his shirt, pulling it right back off again. Everywhere Heero's fingers touched left a delicious heat.

Wing's pilot nuzzled Duo's throat, then stood back, eyes moving over the half-naked boy hungrily. 

"Heero..." Unexpected panic rose in Duo and he fought it down. This was Heero! This was the guy he'd been fantasizing about for years!

"Shhh." Heero's lips touched his, the briefest of caresses, but again enough to silence him. Duo closed his eyes, feeling the other boy's mouth move down to the hollow of his throat, then to the soft flesh around his armpit. He lifted his arms, locking them behind his head, body arching into the insistent lips and tongue. 

If he pleased Heero...oh, God! 

Heero's tongue lapped at one nipple, hardening it to a pebble and making Duo whimper. His knees turned to water and he fell backwards onto the couch. Heero was after him, pushing Duo's hands away when he tried to get up, bending over him instead, continuing to suck at those tiny nubs. 

"Ahhh!" Heat flashed through Duo in waves, "Heero!"

"You sure this is okay?" the other youth asked hoarsely.

The sight of uncertainty in that dark blue gaze left Duo momentarily speechless. 

"Y-yeah," he stammered. "Sure, it's okay."

There was a quick flash of a grin, something rarely seen. The boy sank to his knees beside Duo on the couch. Bending forward, he seized Duo's chin and tilted it up, covering his mouth with kisses.

Shivers ran through Duo. When Heero drew back and plucked once again at his nipples, he managed,

"Not bad. Have you been practicing?"

"Instructional tapes," Heero replied, utterly serious, rolling Duo's aching nubs between his fingers. Duo made a small sound, the pressure in his groin nearly unbearable. 

Heero was kissing him again. Duo's mouth opened. The other boy's tongue went deep while sure hands slid down Duo's chest and belly. He felt them unsnap the jeans. There was a confused moment, both of them breathing hard, as he got them off and kicked them away. Hungrily, Heero kissed him again.

Gently but inexorably, those roaming hands nudged Duo's legs further apart. Strong fingers wrapped around his stiffening cock. Duo gasped, hips thrusting helplessly into Heero's grip. 

Duo felt his eyes roll back, Heero's kiss getting deeper, more intimate. The other boy lifted his head, looking into Duo's wide, dazed eyes. He smiled and Duo's heart turned over. Then Heero lowered his head and pressed his lips against Duo's swollen nipples. His cock already prisoner in Heero's unbreakable grip, this new attention sent shockwaves of heat through him. 

"Omigod!"

"I'm not hurting you, am I?"

"No," whispered Duo, then gasped, feeling teeth sink gently into his nipple. "Oh!"

Heero's other hand moved silkily over Duo's balls, caressing them briefly. Duo trembled when he felt those long, slim fingers push against his hole. 

And then, hideously, a voice rang in his head:

__

I said wider, little fuck! WIDER! I'm ready to go again!

Duo pushed Heero back, unable to breathe.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Duo managed a cocky grin while his heart banged and crashed about in his chest. "I want to try somethin'."

He slid from the coach as Heero, bewildered and trembling with need, shifted around to stare at him. 

"Sit back," Duo advised, "feet on the floor."

So Heero slumped back into the cushions, legs akimbo, Duo knelt between them. Heero caught his breath when Duo unzipped his jeans. He lifted his hips at the whispered order and made a small, eager sound when his pants were removed. 

Naked, he didn't resist when Duo pushed his legs apart and slid callused hands down the soft flesh of his inner thighs. The Perfect Soldier sat open and waiting. 

"You okay, Heero?"

Heero nodded. His sex was hard as a rock. Duo bent forward and, delicately, teasingly, ran his tongue up the swollen vein on its underside. Heero's hips jerked and he nearly slid from the couch. When Duo took the hard, heavy sex in his mouth, the other boy moaned, head falling back against the cushions.

Who would have known, thought Duo distantly, that Yamada and Arcane's cruel tuition would be so useful!

A light sheen of sweat gleamed on Heero's skin; his muscles were strung fine as wire. Duo gently attended to his most private of places, lips caressing the taut flesh, tongue laving cock and balls until he whimpered.

Now Duo seized his knees, pushing them up, forcing Heero to roll back. Instinctively, the dark-haired pilot seized them, holding himself open and ready for whatever Duo chose to do.

"Good boy," approved Duo and his tongue traveled down to the exquisitely sensitive flesh under Heero's balls. 

Heero jumped. Duo's hands continued a gentle stroking of the tense thighs, then Heero's narrow buttocks, gently pulling apart the latter. His lips whispered along the cleft. Instinctively, Heero shifted, exposing more of himself, Duo's tongue teased around his anus.

"What are you... Duo... Ahhhh!"

Duo's tongue forced its way past the muscular barrier to probe inside. Heero shook and shook. Abruptly, he lost his grip on his legs. He sat up, hands catching Duo's face between them.

"I -- wanna fuck you." Heero's voice was a rasp. He trembled and there was a wildness to his gaze that both frightened Duo and excited him. Yet, even as his body ached for Heero, dark fears teased at the edges of his thoughts. 

If he refused, would Heero get mad?

"A--all right," said Duo and stood up. Feeling Heero's gaze burning into his back, he went to the bathroom and returned with a tube of genium jelly. Heero was sitting up now, feet on the floor, knees open. His eyes didn't move from Duo.

Without speaking, Duo handed the lube to Heero. This would be hard, but hell, he should be used to it by now and if Heero decided to keep him....

"Tell me how you want me," he whispered.

Something flashed in those indigo eyes. Heero stood and Duo was kissed again, most thoroughly and with much more confidence. The caress left him tingling. 

"Into the bedroom," came the husky command.

Duo obeyed, acutely aware of the other boy at his heels. He reached the bed and, without being told, lay himself face down across it. He heard Heero's sigh. When he felt those strong, hard hands kneading the twin globes of his ass, he almost lost it, the panic like a storm of darkness. 

_This is Heero. This is Heero._ It was a mantra that kept him from shivering apart.

He opened his legs. For a moment, the hands drew away. Automatically, well-trained, Duo lifted his hips, pulling his knees under him. He moaned as a slippery finger pushed into him, then another. It was a little sore, but not too bad...

"Oh, god!" 

Heero's fingers found the sweet spot.

"Is that it?

"Yessssssssss."

For a long time, Duo could do nothing but writhe helplessly as Heero acquainted himself with the American's responses. Again and again, he stroked the prostate until Duo's breath was coming in shallow gasps. Not once had Arcane or Yamada cared for his pleasure like this.

Then those devilish hands lifted away and something slick and much bigger than those two slender fingers pushed against Duo's hole. Again came the fear and again he desperately pushed it back.

There was a grunt from Heero, a moment's stab of pain, then the other boy was inside him.

"So good...." whispered Heero thickly.

Duo was beyond speech. Heero was so big! He could do nothing but cling to the rumpled bedclothes as the other youth held still a moment, hands sliding up and down Duo's flanks. 

On countless lonely nights, when their missions had them scattered across the face of the earth, Duo had dreamed of something like this, of being filled by Heero, of that narrow hand moving over his skin. Such things had been very much on his mind when he'd lain on his bare mattress in some deserted house, listening to Trowa and Quatre in the next room. Hell, who was he kidding? He'd wanted Heero for a long time.

Be careful what you wish for...

The hands gripping Duo's hips tightened suddenly, convulsively. Heero slammed into Duo with such force that pain shocked him to breathlessness. He clenched his jaws on his instinctive cry of protest -- held himself still when every instinct shrieked at him to throw off the invader, to run like hell.

He tried to breathe and couldn't, body shaken by the strength of the young warrior inside him Once, twice, three times, Heero drove deep. Finally, with a hoarse cry, he pushed as far into Duo as he could.

That final thrust pushed Duo across the bed, dragging him past his threshold of control. He buried his cry in the sheets, feeling the all-too familiar sharp pain that meant trouble. He gritted his teeth against the spasms of the cock inside him as Heero spent himself. Then, the almost-pleasure long since gone to pain, he prayed desperately that Heero was happy and that it was over. 

* * *

**Part 14**

Heero knew he should be concentrating on plans to steal the alien ship and get it back to the docs. He knew he should be worrying about contacting Zechs to arrange for Yamada's arrest, for Duo's return and trial. Heero should have been thinking about any number of important things. Instead, he thought about Duo.

Duo laughing, Duo in a fight, Duo with his arm around Quatre, teasing the sensitive boy out of another storm of guilt. 

Why Duo? Of all the obnoxious, careless, impulsive creatures, the young American was a poster-child for disaster. Why didn't he feel this way about Trowa, who was so like himself in many ways? Or Quatre, delicate and kind as a woman? Even Wu Fei -- but no. It was Duo of whom he thought. Always now.

God, he hoped the baka was okay. The blood on the sheets had scared him. Worse was the way Duo had accepted it -- no surprise, no anger, just resignation. Well, that shit wasn't happening again, God damn it!

Heero smelled the stew as he got out of the lift. It permeated the gloomy corridor and his step got lighter as he approached his door. 

Duo was in the front of the stove, stirring a large pot, the source of the heavenly fragrance. He looked around, startled as Heero came in and slid arms around his waist. Flipping aside the braid with his nose, Heero nuzzled the nape of that slender neck.

"Hey, man! How'm I s'pposed to fix dinner if you're gonna do that?"

"I don't know. I don't care. Shut up."

There was a chuckle from Duo who lowered his head and laid the spoon carelessly on the stove-top. Heero continued his leisurely tasting and touching, grinning wickedly when Duo reached a trembling hand to adjust the flame.

"Oh, Jeezus, dude..."

"Duo?"

"Mmmm."

"I -- are you sure this okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I just -- well I'd rather not do _that_ , you know?" Duo's voice trailed away and he shivered.

"No! Not unless you say it's okay," Heero promised, adding, "I want to try something else anyway. I promise it won't hurt."

Duo nodded, eyes very large and apprehensive.

Allowing his fingertips to brush Duo's heated flesh constantly, Heero undid the braid and let that gleaming mass explode in a cloud over his back. Hands sliding up under Duo's shirt, Heero moved closer. The shirt came off. Duo shook back his mane, long tendrils of hair falling into his eyes. Kissing him before that motor-mouth could get going, Heero pushed him away from the stove and against the wall.

Duo trembled a little when Heero began kissing his throat and chest. He gasped at the touch of tongue and teeth on his nipples. Heero felt the sudden tension and withdrawal. 

"Duo?"

"It's okay," Duo whispered. "It's okay."

Heero released Duo's wrists in favor of unsnapping the jeans at that narrow waist. There was another sound, lost in Heero's mouth, as his hands moved lower. He could feel Duo's racing pulse in the sex he grasped. 

Last night, Duo's mouth on his cock had sent Heero to paradise. He wanted to return the favor -- and make up for inflicting such pain. He dropped to his knees.

"Heero..." 

Heero heard the bewildered note in Duo's voice and ignored it, pulling down the other boy's jeans until they were bunched around Duo's thighs. He groaned when Heero began to lick the hard, heavy penis that trembled, erect, against his belly. 

A milky drop leaked from the head of Duo's organ, then another. Heero felt a tremor run through the other boy. Duo's knees gave out and Heero caught him, lowering them both to the kitchen floor. There, he finished taking off Duo's jeans.

Sprawled on the scuffed flooring, Duo raised his knees and let his legs fall open. Heero knelt between those slender, sinewy thighs, unable to take his eyes from Duo's cock, pulse beating frantically in the heavy vein, or the scrotum stretched tight over swollen testicles. 

Heero leaned forward and felt Duo's long fingers slip into his hair. The other youth gasped when Heero began to lick his balls.

Time vanished. All that existed for Heero was under his mouth and hands. Duo whimpered and groaned as Heero's attentions became more insistent, more specialized. He was finally forced to hold Duo's hips hard against the floor to keep him still and when Duo's balls suddenly began to pull up and tighten, when the boy arched his slender back, hair pouring over the dull tiles, Heero felt a hot rush of pride and affection.

Duo's astonished, exultant cry echoed through the small apartment. He trembled as Heero drank him dry. Then he lay, glistening with sweat, tiny nipples still erect. His eyes opened. They were filled with wonder. Heero smiled and, for the first time in a long time, received one of Duo's radiant grins.

"Not bad," Duo said breathlessly. 

Heero helped Duo to sit, watching all that hair fall around his shoulders like a cloak. His own groin ached. When Duo, through coquettishly lowered lashes, reached for his cock, stroking it through his clothes, Heero, without thinking about it, pushed his hips forward, opening his knees.

Duo's experience far exceeded his. His clothes disappeared soon afterwards, but he didn't remember losing them. The other boy knew exactly where to touch him, knew where sensation after exquisite sensation could be coaxed. Heero writhed and moaned, brought to the brink again and again, reason fraying until he was no longer a soldier, no longer a killer -- only a man lost in the throes of pleasure and -- something more.

Even as he sought to identify the latter feeling, orgasm overwhelmed him. He shouted and in the violence of the climax, his body jerked wildly. Everything splintered into incandescence.

Gradually, awareness returned. He was lying with his head in Duo's lap, Duo's fingers stroking gently, soothingly, through his damp hair. The other boy bent over, seeing Heero's eyes open. His hair fell around them both in a protective curtain.

"You're pretty good, Yuy."

"Ohhhh," whispered Heero, struggling to sit, Duo supporting him. "Oh."

The wide smile became shy. Bright eyes lowered then lifted again, appalled.

"The stew!"

They sat naked at Heero's little dining table and ate cider stew with store-bought biscuits ("The bread thing is too complicated for me. I can't ever get the shit to rise.") Heero said little, thoughts filled with the past. Duo, too, was quiet. Heero caught the other boy looking at him from time to time as if wanting to say something, but Duo remained quiet, shoveling in the food.

What if I don't take him back to Sanc, thought Heero suddenly. There are small satellites, abandoned places that could be fixed up. No one would find him there. I'd bring him food -- things to do...

And yet, even as Heero thought these things, he knew that such isolation would crush Duo as surely as the fate that waited for him in Sanc. The guy was a murderer, damn it! What the hell was wrong with him?

He looked up to see Duo looking back.

"This changes nothing," said Heero.

The light went out of those remarkable eyes. Slender shoulders slumped briefly, then straightened. That stubborn chin lifted and Duo said, 

"Yeah. Sure." He rose, empty plate in hand, and vanished into the kitchen.

Heero sat, the stew gone to ashes in his mouth. Pain, shame -- and then anger flared. Resentment coiled in his gut. How dare Duo make him feel guilty! The bastard had stabbed a defenseless, gentle girl repeatedly, uncaring of her screams or pleas for mercy! Then, to compound the heinousness of his crime, he'd fled, craven, from justice.

Maybe not.

Abruptly, Heero pushed back his chair and strode into the kitchen. Duo had put on the jeans and was struggling to confine his hair. The well-formed body bent gracefully; Duo lifted his arms, hands behind his head as he struggled with that profusion of bright silk. Heero raged at the attraction.

Swearing, Duo clumsily braided it, then stooped to retrieve his shirt. He was shaking. But when he tried to push past Heero in the doorway, Heero grabbed him and shoved against the wall. Duo made a sound deep in his throat and became still, head down, arms wrapped tightly around himself. 

Heero's rage vanished. He picked up his own clothes and left the kitchen. By the couch, he dressed, then sat staring across the room at the other pilot.

"I didn't do it," Duo said softly, voice emotionless and terrible. "I didn't do it, Heero. You and the others knew me better than anyone in the world. Why? Why don't you believe me? Why won't you have faith? Was I that big an asshole?"

"What did you fight with Relena about?"

"Huh?"

"Before you killed her. You were heard fighting with her. What about?"

Duo laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "Jeezus. I suppose that's some of your fucking 'evidence'."

"TELL ME!"

"We were fighting about you."

"Me? What the hell?"

"It was after you left. After the business with Treize's kid, Mei-mei or whatever the hell. Relena was busy cutting off every defense she had against the crazies in the world. I mean -- no security cameras? Get real." He smiled mirthlessly. "Anyway -- it was real clear she was heartbroken about you taking off like that and too proud to hunt you down and beg you to stay. And, christ! -- she needed _someone_ to watch her back. Anyway, that's what we were arguing about."

"Bullshit," Heero snapped, even as part of him thought it plausible. "That sure as hell won't stand up in court."

Duo said nothing for a long time. Then he sighed. 

"What do they do to murderers in Sanc?"

"You won't be killed. Sanc believes in total pacificism, remember?"

"Then what?"

Heero shrugged even as the image of Sanc Fortress rose in his mind, grim, unforgiving, a black-granite hell on the edge of the desert. He could not imagine Duo there, locked in the dark, deep in the earth, surrounded by stone. Heero steadied his breath against the sudden, sick twist of his gut. 

_Don't take him back. Hide him. Keep him safe. So what if he's a killer? We're all killers, all five of us, and that sanctimonious bastard, Zechs, too!_

"Get out," he shouted then, unable to deal with the squall of emotions inside him. "GET OUT!"

Duo fled, door slamming behind him.


	17. Chapter 17

Why was he always so damned stupid? Jesus Christ!

Duo walked blindly, bare feet taking him to the roof. He'd even been thinking of turning Wildflower down, of staying and working through the mess with Heero. Like the fucker said -- baka, baka, BAKA!

It was cold. Duo could feel edge of space in the chill and knew without caring that Elion was inching bit by bit toward complete breakdown. If he got Wildflower away and hidden, then what? Zoe again? It was a hell he knew, at least, and one in which he had freedom of a sort. Shit. That was a _choice_?

He was so goddamned fucking tired. The last year and a half had been hell and it wasn't gonna get any better. The old days were gone forever. Treasure them for what they were. He should meet whatever fate God gave him and make the best of it.

Duo found a place behind a heater housing that radiated a bit of warmth and hunkered down there, hugging his knees tight, brushing the long hair from his wet cheeks. There was strange sense of resignation when he looked into his dark future, a kind of acceptance that settled over him and left him empty but still. After awhile, he stood up, brushing bits of asphalt from his jeans and went back inside. 

Walking past Heero's door without looking at it, Duo went down, level after level, to the recycling room. Servants had been in there during the day, but it was cold and empty now. Habit made him grab a blanket as he passed. He went into the water treatment room and knocked on the kids' access panel. Wildflower looked out at him. Behind her was SB, pale and scared.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

SB was staring at him, too. 

"Yes," replied Duo. "I'm ready."

*****

Heero was a man whose brief lifetime had been dedicated to control -- control of his actions, control of the situation -- and he was good at it, damn good. So what the hell was happening to him? His stomach churned, his chest was tight and it felt like his heart would burst through his rib cage. He was literally trembling and for what? Maxwell was a killer. Period. There had been no one else in that corridor, no one found lurking and covered with blood. 

Why? That was the question that nagged at all of them. Why did he do it?

Maybe Duo'd been crazy when he'd killed her, like Quatre had been that one time. Maybe he'd just snapped for a little bit, then got better. Even after that attack on the old Raberba satellite, Quatre still walked around, free and admired. They all did, all but Duo. 

_Stop it!_

Heero sat on the edge of his bed -- the edge Duo had slept on. He could still smell the other boy on his fingers. Oh, god. Dropping his head into his hand, Heero tried desperately to banish the image of that thin face, eyes much too big and shadowed by pain. Duo. Why the hell did you have to kill her? 

Duo swinging down from his gundam, grinning from ear to ear.

Duo running down a corridor, smoke and fire at his heels, laughing. 

Duo by the campfire, eyes wide as saucers while Quatre told a ghost story.

_Why don't you believe me?_

Why didn't they? 

C'so! Heero jumped up and went to his closet, pulling out his gear. He'd wasted enough time. He knew where the damn ship was, knew how to fly it well enough to get it to the moon labs. It was time he was on his way. 

Bag at his feet, Heero sat down at his computer and logged into Yamada's so-called security files. Duo wasn't going anywhere -- not while he was on Elion. Heero stuffed his flight suit into the duffel and opened the apartment door. Let Zechs get Duo if he wanted. Heero was outta there.


	18. Part 17

"SB goes to Earth or there's no deal."

The girl scowled fiercely, but she nodded.

"And also, I was thinkin' -- lying in stasis for a billion years isn't your only option."

"I'm listening."

"Don't listen. Look."

She closed her eyes, expression doubtful. Free of pain and fever, he felt a definite tickle at the edges of his awareness. A chill ran up spine.

Wildflower opened her eyes. "All right," she whispered. "We'll go to these scientists you know, but I hope you're right."

"If anyone can build you a new drin, it's them. But before we go anywhere you've gotta do something about this." Duo said pointed to the lump in his shoulder.

From the corner of his eye, Duo saw SB, quiet and scared, his precarious universe turned upside down. Still, the boy managed one of his cocky grins.

"We took care of that while you were having dinner." She held up an object much like the injector that had put the pellet in him.

"Where the hell did you get that?"

"We figured the head goldie knew where it was so I took it out of his memory. Then I distracted him while SB got it."

She set the extractor against his shoulder, frowning in concentration. Heat flared. There was an audible pop and quick sharp pain. Wildflower sat back and Duo watched the bloody bit of metal roll across the storeroom floor. He touched the wound on his shoulder. It was already cauterized and throbbed a bit.

"You know where your ship is?" he asked. It was out! It was really out! His heart hammered erratically.

"I think so. Me and SB overheard lots of stuff and people say there's something funny going on near the old Section C." 

"Great. Now all we have to do is figure out how to get there from here." 

"But you know the design of this colony, right? I saw drawings in your memory."

This was nuts. Out of the corner of his eye, Duo saw SB. The kid was trying real hard to stay on top of it, to be cool, but he was scared to death. 

"'Course you did," Duo replied with a wink. "Lottsa good stuff in there, eh?"

Wildflower gave him a startled look, then she, too, glanced at SB. Returning her gaze to him, she stared a moment, then said,

"How would you get there?"

Duo pictured the dead zone, the miles of ruined corridors, the floating debris.

"We'll go outside. Come with me."

There was an emergency closet in the sorting room. With SB's help, Duo dragged crates and barrels away from it. Inside were ten space suits. The safety date on all of them had expired. Still four had enough oxygen and all the seals looked okay. He helped the kids into them, adjusting them as best he could for their small size. 

"Help her with her helmet," Duo told SB, mind working busily. "And double check all your seals."

His own helmet under his arm, he hurried back to the water treatment room and a large, round tank at the far end of it. 

The purification system operated by collecting all the waste water in one set of tanks and letting the sediment sink to the bottom. Then water was drawn off and sent to another tank for chemical treatment. The sludge in the first tank was ejected. Once upon a time, it would have been caught and sent on for fertilizer processing. Now it just froze and scattered through space. 

"What are you doing?" SB, holding Wildflower's gloved hand, appeared at his elbow.

One of the first-stage filtration tanks was completely disconnected from the sewage pipes and no longer used. Its ejection mechanism, however, still worked.

"The only exit I know that isn't security wired is this. I figured it out a while ago, but with that damned pellet in my shoulder, I still wouldn't get very far before the goldies took me down."

"We gotta get in _there_?" SB's voice was tinny through his helmet. He looked appalled.

"Relax. It's been empty for years. Once we get inside, our weight should be enough to open the hatch and dump us out."

"Yer kiddin', right?"

"How does it work?" Wildflower asked curiously.

"When the weight sensor is activated, the tank cover will seal. There's about twenty seconds before the chute opens. Decompression will suck us out. I reckon the chute's about twelve feet long and then we're clear."

Duo put on his helmet and checked the seals automatically. He went to the tank's manual control box and pulling off the panel, did a little quick re-wiring. Then he ran back to the tank. The top spiraled open showing a empty, corroded interior.

"C'mon. We've only got a few seconds!"

They jumped in. There was a loud crash and the tank lid began to close. They sat waiting, with more miserable profanity from SB when the secondary seal locked into place.

"Whatever you do," Duo warned, only half joking, "never puke in your helmet."

"Thanks a lot..." came SB's feeble voice in the dark.

The tank was closed and sealed. It was utterly dark. The floor shifted.

"Banzai!" Duo shouted and the bottom dropped out from under them.

There was an eternity of falling, of banging against the sides of the chute, of both SB and Wildflower shrieking in his ears. Then they were out. 

Duo's body adjusted automatically to the sudden weightlessness, twisting around to snatch SB's flailing hand, then twisting again, using their momentum to reach Wildflower and keep going. The colony's wall rushed to meet them, overwhelming their vision.

His gloved fingers sought the magnet controls on either small wrist. He clicked them, then his own. Their boots hit solidly on the colony's metal surface.

"Wow," breathed SB, looking around. "Wow!" 

Duo tried to get his bearings. The section idents should be printed on the wall in massive, block lettering, visible from ships coming toward it. He started along the wall, following its curve. A minute later he saw it -- a wide swath of faded paint. Section B. Christ. Miles away.

The fastest, easiest way to get there would be to jump, but that took a certain amount of skill. Still, even with two youngsters on either side, they could still make better speed than by walking.

SB loved it once he got the idea, gripping Duo's hand hard and laughing aloud as Duo propelled them up and along, then brought them down with an easy rhythm of magnetizing and de-magnetizing. To his surprise, Wildflower laughed right along with the boy. 

They reached Section C at last. Beside the great docking bay door was what remained of a cargo bridge. Duo opened the panel accessing the emergency door controls. The PGHSes had a pretty basic set up and the manual overrides could be manually reset if you knew the trick. He knew the trick. Tapping in a barely remembered code, he waited. Sure enough -- the outer door slid open. Duo clambered in, helping the others in after him.

The second door of the airlock emptied them into a dark corridor. There was a moment's panic from SB until the helmet lights flashed on. 

"This way," said Wildflower suddenly.

"How do you know?" 

"The map that was in your head."

"Yeah," Duo sighed. "Of course."

Wildflower moved ahead of him. It was eerie watching her make use of memories he could barely access himself. 

"Hold it!" he said suddenly.

Ahead was another airlock, but here there was new wiring, and a camera in the shadows.

Fuck.

"How far?" he asked.

"Just on the other side if those specs were right."

"Then we have to move fast. We'll set off alarms -- there's no help for it. We get to your ship, we get in, we go."

And all bets were off if there were human guards, he thought, but didn't say so. There was no turning back.

Wildflower coughed and suddenly he could feel her weight against him.

"Wi!" SB cried.

"I -- I don't feel so good," she whispered. "The kidneys are failing."

Duo heard that with a sharp stab of alarm. Great timing. He picked her up and hit the door control with his elbow. It slid open. The three of them hurried in and stood waiting while it clanged shut and pressure equalized. The other one slid aside and they walked into atmosphere and light.

A brief corridor led to a lobby. Once, this had been a commercial shuttle dock. Duo pushed through the next door and out onto the metal deck. He nearly dropped Wildflower, who squirmed from his grasp to stand, clinging to him.

"Holy shi...."

Duo stared in amazement at the mobile suit standing in a barrage of spotlights.

"That's _yours_?" SB gasped.

"Yeah." The pride in Wildflower's breathless voice was audible. "That's the Typha."

"Are you going to make it?" Duo asked worriedly. She continued to cling to him.

"Sure. We just need to get -- my drin -- my life-support suit. Your scientist will need some sort of prototype."

"Yeah, but where the hell is it?"

She pointed a trembling finger. Across the dock was an observation window. Under normal circumstances, that was where the docking crew worked, but he could see that it had been remodeled into a lab. 

"Wait here," he said, easing her to the ground. She didn't protest, but knelt, head forward, pale hair hiding her face. SB trotted after him.

In the lab, Duo saw the suit at once. It was about four feet tall and lay like a decapitated doll in a glass case between two laboratory benches. While SB wandered away, helmet clutched under his arm, peering here and there, Duo had a look at the case. It was wired, of course and someone had done a decent job of it, but he was Duo Maxwell and there wasn't anything electronic he couldn't figure out. And -- just to add icing to the cake \-- the benches were littered with parts and instruments. He selected a pair of needle-nosed pliers and started in on the case.

"Duo!"

Something in SB's voice made the pilot drop the pliers and get up. Across the lab, a door stood open. Beyond was a brightly-lit room, very long and narrow. Reaching it, Duo recognized it at once for what it was -- a morgue. His heart jumped into his mouth. SB stood, one of the drawers pulled out, the white, frozen corpse of a child lying on the slab. He seemed paralyzed.

There were almost fifty drawers. Duo yanked one out. The bodies of three children of varying ages were tangled together in macabre embrace. Ice crystals on their faces glittered like tears. Duo slammed shut the drawer.

"Let's get out of here," he snapped.

SB sobbing at his heels, Duo ran back into the lab. Discretion be damned. With his gloved fist, he smashed into the case and grabbed Wildflower's drin. He reached the lab door just before the other boy. Slamming it open, he stopped dead. The end of a gun was rock-steady in his face. 

"I should have known."

"Heero." Duo's whole world came to a crashing halt. Looking past Heero, he saw Wildflower on the floor. She looked terrified. SB was right at his elbow, frozen.

Heero was clearly on his way out, duffel and computer sitting in the middle of the deck. He, too, wore a pressure suit.

"The sexpot routine was good, Maxwell. I gotta hand it to you."

"Heero..."

"Who's he? Your boyfriend?"

"No! Fuck you!"

Shit! This was disaster. The gun didn't waver and there was black rage in Heero's face. Duo's stomach knotted painfully. Still, he met that glare without flinching.

"Then what?"

"His name's SB. She's Wildflower. They're street kids, orphans -- kids your fucking boss was rounding up and murdering! If you're curious, there are a bunch of bodies in the morgue back there. I'm -- I was taking the kids to the docs before they're morgue-fodder, too."

"What?" Heero was dumfounded. He jerked his gun, the signal for them to move past. "You expect me to believe that?"

"I don't expect you to believe me if I told you your name was Heero!" Duo retorted bitterly, then stopped and took a deep breath.

He watched Heero's finger tighten on the trigger. This was a mission! Heero was here to steal this suit! Christ, they were dead if he couldn't find a way out of this!

"Why take them to the docs?" Heero asked.

"It -- it's her ship."

"WHAT?"

"Jesus! It's a long story. Look -- they aren't safe here! I've gotta get them to the docs one way or the other. If I can't take them, you've got to!"

Heero's mouth dropped. It wasn't often he was taken completely by surprise. "The hell I do!" 

Duo heard something. It grew louder. Alarms!

"SHIT!" Heero snarled.

"Heero, please! I know you're taking the ship to them -- it couldn't be anyone else! I'll do whatever you want -- give you whatever you want \-- if you'll just take the kids with you!"

"Duo!" SB cried.

"You've got nothing I want, Maxwell," Heero said harshly.

"Oh, yes, I do." There was buzzing in Duo's ears. His heart pounded and his mouth was dry as bone. His decision terrified him even as he decided upon it. "I'll confess."

The words froze Heero. His gun lowered slightly. "What?"

"I'll confess. To you, to Zechs, to the universe. Whatever you want. Just get the kids to safety."

Heero said nothing, only stared so long at Duo that he began to think he'd said something terrible. Then the guns lowered.

"You killed her."

"Yeah, I killed her." His voice was hollow. Something inside shriveled.

Heero looked at SB again.

"Deal. Bring the suit. You two -- get in."


	19. Part 18

What the _hell_ was he doing?

Heero looked over at his prisoner/passengers. Duo was wrapped protectively around the boy and girl in the small amount of extra space remaining in the cockpit. Even after two years, Heero thought irrelevantly, Duo wasn't much bigger than the children he was protecting. Heero wanted to ask the other pilot why he was doing this, but there wasn't time for chit-chat. 

Once he got free of the colony, thought Heero, he'd contact Zechs and let him know what was happening. 

__

Don't take him back. Tell them all you killed him and get Maxwell away from here. Find him a new identity, a place to live, something to do.

Heero swore, earning frightened looks from his younger passengers. Duo just ducked his head lower and hunched his shoulders. Heero forced himself to focus on the task before him.

He felt the ship greet him. There was the moment of disorientation and the systems locked onto him. It was, he thought, not unlike Wing Zero, only without all the attendant bullshit. 

Sending a command to the ship, he sensed it transmit the pre-arranged code to Yamada's automated security. In the bay outside, the claxons continued their urgent howl. Great beams of steel and titanium crashed as the bay door began to open. 

He could not afford to be distracted by any of this until he got the hell out of Elion. Whatever his _opinion_ about Duo, his _duty_ was clear. Blocking the other youth from his thoughts, Heero handled the incoming stream of information coming the from the alien suit's computers. Most was gibberish to him, but he recognized the data he needed. Ahead, the dock doors were open. 

_Go!_

There was that moment of confusion; he was ready for it, having experienced it on his first run in the ship. A moment later, everything stabilized and they were streaking out of the bay and into space. He felt the ship transform, the arms and legs rotating, folding back until it was a sleek, narrow craft cutting through space like a needle.

_Enemy to port._

Tauruses -- two of them -- Yamada's top of the line defense. It hadn't taken the vice lord long to figure out what was going on. Probably Duo had set off the alarms. 

The alien ship did have weapons, although he couldn't tell precisely what they were, only their general function. He thought a command to port, sensing the presence of a gun. 

"He can't pilot this for shit!" announced the little girl. "And if you try to fire the plasma ray while you're holding the darbonic adjuster, you're going to blow us all up! Let Duo pilot!"

"No," he said shortly. "Tell me how it works." Her small, blue lips drew back in a snarl. Duo put his hand on her head.

"No," he said. "Help him. Please."

Something touched Heero's mind. He recoiled, but it didn't let go. There was a hot flash of contempt followed by a sudden, clear image of what he must do. Then he was alone in his head once more, thoughts reeling. He looked over, blinking watering eyes. The creature had her face pressed against Duo's suit. 

He got an incoming communication from the Tauruses. They were demanding that he identify himself. It only took two shots, bright, white-hot balls of energy, to disable both mobile suits, then the alien ship was gone, streaking out past sensor range and away.

****

Sanc. 

Duo stared at the screen as the runway rushed up to meet them. He turned and looked at Heero, who sat, jaw clenched, guiding the alien craft down to Earth. 

"Hey," SB said suddenly, "what's goin' on? I thought we were goin' to the moon!"

Duo couldn't see the boy's face, only give him a reassuring squeeze. 

"I don't understand."

"The assassin thinks Duo killed someone," said Wildflower. Her voice was weak, but implacable. "He's wrong."

SB squirmed against Duo, trying to turn around and look at him, but their space was too small.

"It was the deal," replied Duo simply. "Sorry. It was the best I could do."

"But..."

"Just -- just go with it, okay? Don't forget -- you owe me a favor." Duo was too tired to argue. Perhaps SB sensed that, for he fell silent, but his slight body was rigid in the pressure suit. Wildflower, too, was stonily mute.

The Typha leveled off, descending slowly to the pale gray runway. Ahead, Duo saw a crowd of people. He felt the all-too familiar tightening of his throat and chest, the sudden, uncontrollable acceleration of his heart. 

Heero had already contacted Zechs and Duo saw that it had taken the prince no time at all to make preparations. The ship settled gently to the ground. Outside, the figures resolved into soldiers. With a sudden rush of misery, he saw the pale-haired man in their midst. Zechs!

They had landed. 

"Well, guys," he forced cheerfulness into his voice, "guess this is it! Looks like my welcoming committee is here. Maybe there'll even be a banquet reception, eh?"

"Who are they?" SB asked, but it was Heero to whom he directed his angry question. Heero turned his head and tripped the hatch. It opened.

"Stay here," Heero told the two kids. His voice was unexpectedly kind. "I'll be back in a minute."

"I -- I want to stay with Duo!" Wildflower cried.

"Oh, no you don't," Duo replied with feeling. "You'll be okay. Just tell the docs everything."

_God, I hope I'm right. I hope they'll be okay._

Heero pulled off his helmet. He shook out his thatch of black hair. 

"C'mon," he said to Duo. Then, to Wildflower. "If you try to take the ship, you'll only make things worse for him."

Then he vanished, swinging out and onto the tarmac. Duo twisted awkwardly and managed to extricate himself from their small space. SB started to come after him, but Duo pushed him back.

"It'll be okay. Really."

The boy gave up, settling back, wrapping his arms tight about Wildflower, who hugged him back. He turned his face away when Duo said goodbye and didn't answer.

"MAXWELL!"

The American crawled out and scrambled to the ground. He took a deep breath of cool, fragrant Earth air as Heero grabbed his arm. Numb, he made no effort to resist and let the other boy pull him toward the advancing soldiers. 

Suddenly Zechs was running, leaving his soldiers behind. The look on his face made Duo's already broken heart shatter into much smaller pieces. 

"Zechs!" Heero shouted, unexpectedly leaping to stand between them. 

"Out of my way, Yuy!" Zechs' lean, strong hand was balled into a fist, his arm already drawing back to deliver the blow.

"NO!" 

Zechs and Heero stood in an angry face-off.

"No," Duo heard Heero say again, voice cold and flat. "I brought him back to stand trial, not to face your personal vengeance."

For a second, Duo was sure Zechs would explode into murderous action and there would be blood on the pavement. But Zechs only set his jaw and uncurled his fingers

"You're right," he said grimly. "This time he won't get away, no matter how much he protests his innocence, justice will be served."

"He's won't."

"Won't what?"

"Claim innocence."

Zechs looked to Duo. "You admit killing my sister?"

Throat too tight to speak, Duo only nodded. 

The prince jerked his head in brief acknowledgment and shouted for his men. Then they were surrounded. His hands were roughly seized and bound. Soldiers pushed and jostled at him. Duo lost sight of both Heero and Zechs as he was hustled across the tarmac toward a line of police cars and more angry people. He looked over his shoulder. Heero was walking back to the alien ship, shoulders straight, head high. 

Someone hit him and Duo went to his knees. There was laughter and cursing. They hauled him back up and marched him on to his fate.


	20. Part 19

Dr. J. was ecstatic. "I knew you could do it, boy! Well done!"

"What about Duo?"

"What about him?" was the indifferent reply.

Heero went to Dr. G. 

"What about Duo, Dr. G?"

"I suppose something like that was inevitable," replied the man who'd turned Duo into the God of Death, then threw him away. "You have to expect some failures. Good work in bringing the Typha and Ms. Wildflower. We're learning some very interesting things!"

They didn't care -- none of them. He watched the scientists swarm eagerly over the Typha. Dr. O was speaking with Wildflower. The sight of the grown man in such earnest conversation with such a small girl was disconcerting. But Wildflower was not really a small girl. She sat straight in the wheelchair, hooked up to a variety of devices that were keeping her alive. 

Heero wasn't sure what to think of the alien. She clearly disliked him for his mistreatment of Duo -- a sentiment for which he blamed her not at all. Yet he couldn't be easy around her. Fifty six small bodies had been taken from the morgue in Arcane's secret facility. Maybe the crazy son of a bitch had figured out that a small alien would go for a small body, something to fit neatly into the cockpit of its ship. Had Wildflower known why the kids were disappearing? Heero suspected she had and, in his darker moments, worried about what he'd really brought to the labs. 

Now he wandered through the familiar corridors to the room that was assigned to him whenever he was here. It was small, bare and utilitarian -- comfortless. As he set a hand on the latch, he heard,

"Mr. Yuy?"

He turned. SB. The boy was pale and clearly unhappy. He'd kept to his own quarters in the week they'd been here, trusting no one, not even Wildflower. Afraid. Duo had cared about this kid. They'd had a lot in common, growing up in the dangerous, heartless streets. 

"What's gonna happen to me? I ain't no alien. They don't want me around, do they?"

"Don't worry about it. You're lucky they're not interested in you," Heero was suddenly, bitterly, angry. "I know someone who'll help you out. His name is Quatre and he's one of the kindest people alive. You'll be all right, SB."

"What about Duo?"

"Duo -- has to pay for what he did."

"I don' believe it." SB looked and sounded close to tears. "I don' believe he'd kill anyone!"

"His name in the war was Shinigami," Heero replied more harshly than he'd intended. "Duo killed almost as many people as I did."

He left the boy and went to the communications room. It didn't take long for him to push through the prince's protective buffer of aides and ministers. Quatre agreed at once.

"Of course, I'll take him! Will you be at the trial tomorrow?"

"Yes," Heero lied."

"I'll send someone for the boy," Quatre said, "and I'll see you in Sanc."

After that, Heero drifted through the complex, ending up in the observation room staring at the stars and the orbiting band of colonies and satellites. He found himself suddenly imagining what it would be like to stand here with his arm around Duo, both of them looking up, Duo rattling on about the silly names given to the constellations...

He spun around. It was Wildflower, looking up at him from her chair. The hair rose on the back of his neck. 

"Why did you take him there?"

"It was my duty. He murdered a friend."

"You don't believe that."

Heero couldn't answer.

"Do you?"

"It doesn't matter what I think. The evidence..."

"Do you believe he killed the girl?" Her voice was harsh with the effort of speaking.

"No," Heero said, hearing the wobble in his own. "No."

She said nothing for a long time, staring out into the spangled dark. Her small mouth tightened.

Vertigo hit him without warning and the observation room melted away.

He was walking swiftly down a hallway in Sanc Palace. He saw familiar pictures in their gilded frames, the windows that revealed the palace gardens. Heero was angry, but it wasn't his anger, it was fierce and hot. Duo! These were Duo's memories!

Duo rounded a corner, almost running and then stumbled to a shocked halt. Ahead was a small, open place, marble floor shining, chandelier glittering overhead. In the middle of the chamber were two figures. One lay on the ground, surrounded by a spreading, crimson pool. The other hunched over the first. Horrified, Heero saw the knife rising and falling, heard a low stream of ugly ranting.

"RELENA!"

The figure over the princess straightened and Duo, who had started forward, halted again, frozen by the hideously scarred countenance that turned to him. He watched the lipless mouth stretch into a feral grin and the creature drove the knife into the still form one final time, then turned and ran.

Paralysis held Duo for an eternal moment, then he ran to Relena's side She was covered in her own blood. Looking up at him with eyes already going dim, she whispered:

"Duo?"

"Oh, God, Relena!" He started to pull the knife from her, but she somehow found the strength to wrap icy fingers around his wrist and hold it back.

"No -- no, Duo -- there's no time...." The words bubbled and she was wracked with coughing. Blood spilled from her lips. "Must \-- you must find him, tell him..."

"Relena, don't talk!

"No! Duo -- you were right! I -- I should--- should have looked for him." The bright eyes were clouding over. "Heero -- I love him so much. Take care -- take of Heero..."

"NO! RELENA! PLEASE!" 

Pain ripped through Heero, but it was Duo's pain. 

"Don't die! Don't break Yuy's heart, damn you!"

A shudder ran through the slight figure in his arms. Duo reached down then and pulled the dagger from her breast. With his other hand, he gently closed the wide, dead eyes, his own filling with tears.

"HEY! YOU!"

Duo looked up. Guards! He rose and then, only then, remembered the knife in his hand. He dropped it at once.

"Someone's killed the princess!" he cried and started to run in the direction the scarred killer had taken, but the guards closed around him instead, laying hands on him and throwing him to the ground.

"No! It wasn't me, dammit! You've got to listen! He'll get away."

Then blinding pain hit, shattering his thoughts. Another boot, another kick.. Oh, god... 

Suddenly, Heero was back in the observation room, breathless, shivering. 

"Not true!" he croaked. "I don't know what you did, damn it, but it's not true!"

"Has anyone really looked for the real killer?" she asked, "or was it just easier to blame Duo? Was everyone, yourself included, too angry? Did you need someone to take away the pain and your guilt?"

Heart pounding, sick to his stomach, Heero took a deep, unsteady breath. She was right. In the year and half since Relena died, the publicity and the official investigation had focused on the missing gundam pilot almost exclusively. After all, it was common knowledge that they were all nuts, those gundam pilots, dangerous and liable to go off for no reason. 

And what was their excuse, he wondered bleakly -- those selfsame Gundam pilots who had found it easier to believe Duo guilty than to face their own shame in failing to protect one of Earth's most valuable resources?

Duo would confess as he promised. He would be locked up and the key thrown away. Earth Sphere would breathe a self-righteous sigh of relief and go on about its business.

What could he do? Storm the courthouse and abduct Duo? Beg Zechs for clemency?

"Yuy."

Heero turned and reluctantly met that cold, inhuman gaze. 

"You love him."

He nodded mutely.

It was a long time before she spoke again.

"I haven't much strength, but I love him, too. There may be a way to deliver him, but I need your help."

*****

His guards beat him out of sight of the cameras. Duo had expected it and did what he could to avoid the worst of their blows, but it wasn't enough. When he regained consciousness, he was lying on the cold floor of a cell, hurting everywhere. The worst pain was in his heart. Without the energy or desire to move, he simply lay still, trying to stop his thoughts, refusing to look at his memories. He focused only on the pain because, in the end, his body's hurts were the least of all the terrors he faced.

He couldn't even blame them for their anger, not really. If he had Relena's killer in his grasp, God only knew what he would do. Duo closed his eyes tightly, a sudden image of that face rising up out nowhere. The murderer had looked like a monster from some cheesy horror movie, face so scarred, body so twisted as to be barely recognizable as human. And clearly insane. 

God, he hadn't even told Heero about Relena's last words. Maybe, after he was safely locked up, they'd let him write a letter to the other pilot. It was cowardly not to tell him fact-to-face, but Duo no longer cared about things like courage or honor. All he wanted was to be left alone.

He drifted in and out of consciousness. The guards came back. He heard someone cursing them for beating him so badly. When they lifted him, he cried out and fainted again. He woke in a hospital room with people working over him. The doctors were cold and efficient, offering nothing but medical care for his wounds. 

They brought Duo a prison uniform after that and stood around while he dressed, fumbling and slow. He realized then that they'd cut his hair. It was a careless job, as if someone had simply hacked off the braid. The straight, heavy stuff fell into his eyes and over his collar. He should have been angry or sad, but he felt only a vague wonder at how light his head seemed. 

A man appeared as he finished dressing. He explained that he was a lawyer and appointed to provide Duo's defense.

"I confessed. Why defend me?"

"It's the law," the man said, his distaste clear in his face. "Don't worry. I won't drag it out."

"Thanks," Duo whispered, earning a sharp look.

Everything blurred again. He had no idea how long he sat in his cell after they were done patching him up. Maybe he fell asleep. Then the men in uniforms were at the door again, shouting at him to get up. He obeyed out of reflex, not even flinching when they shackled his hands. 

They hustled him along surreal corridors that ended at a great hall filled with people shouting at him. Guards were there to shield Duo against the rage. Tall doors opened in front of him and he was in the courtroom. Duo saw the others, Quatre, Trowa and -- and WuFei! For a second, a spark of joy penetrated the deepening dark of his soul, then he was pushed past them toward the defense table. For a moment, his surroundings tilted wildly.

Afterwards, Duo would never remember any of it in detail. He sat, silent. as the witnesses were called, his confession read. The worst was being led to the witness chair, to hear the question asked "Did you kill Relena Peacecraft?" -- to hear himself say, "Yes" into a silence that echoed.

He was taken away to sit alone in a small antechamber. His lawyer said the jury was deliberating. Not for long. In no time at all, he was called back to the courtroom. Even though he'd expected it, hearing the jury foreman pronouncing him guilty seemed to drive steel through his chest. It was a familiar pain and he endured it, listening as the judge repeated the verdict.

Heero. Where was he? He should be here, rejoicing in "justice."

But there was no sign of Heero. 

Duo was escorted from the dock, back through the courtroom, back to the welcome silence and isolation of his cell.

_It will be over soon. Maybe -- maybe they'll forget about me. Maybe they'll leave me alone after that._

But when the steel cell door slammed, something else slammed shut inside him. He sat alone on the narrow bench, head down, and waited for the sentence.


	21. Part 20

Heero flew into the Sanc fast and hot. The ship responded beautifully, but why not? He had a clear imprint now of everything it did and how to do it, thanks to the being tucked into the life support container in the hold behind him.

He'd taken the alien mobile suit and Wildflower outright, not even bothering to ask permission from the docs. Their outraged howls still echoed in his ears. C'so! They would make him pay for this, but it was too damn bad! 

The landing strip appeared. Outrage chattered at him from the control tower. He kept tersely requesting Commander Noin. Finally, they got her.

"Heero!" Her voice sounded odd coming through the Typha's strange audio receivers. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Trying to save a friend! I need landing permission now and a fast vehicle to the courthouse. Wheel-chair accessible."

There was silence, then, "All right, but this had better not get me in trouble."

Noin was as good as her word. He got the go-ahead from the tower and brought the ship in for a smooth landing. He swung down from the Typha in time to see men already running a wheeled platform across the tarmac. From the corner of his eye, Heero saw a black van racing toward him. He thought a command at the Typha to open the hold.

Jumping onto the platform, he stopped its ascent midway up the ship. A large, circular opening had appeared, beyond it a hold where Wildflower sat in her chair, surrounded by a survival-bubble.

They told him Duo's trial had just ended and there was a verdict. Guilty. 

Of course, thought Heero bitterly. He'd seen to that! The knots in his gut were as tight and painful as those that had sent him on that single-minded mission of atonement for Noventa's murder .

"They're waiting for the sentencing," Noin had said. " You may have an hour to get there before they do. But why?"

He hadn't taken the time to answer. They would all know soon enough. 

The bubble vanished. Wildflower took hold of Heero's wrist, bringing him back to the present. He looked down at the small arm, wires and tubes connecting it to the chair. Even with her life support, Wildflower was struggling to keep the little body alive. 

"You ready?" Heero asked as steadily as he could manage. 

"Yes." Her voice was a thread, but she sat straight in her chair. 

He nodded, scared that this wouldn't work, terrified that Duo would be lost to him forever. Then, taking the chair, he pulled it out of the Typha and into the sunlight.

*****

The latch rattled. Duo, who had spent the last hour preparing himself for the inevitable, straightened, determined to present a brave face to the others when the sentence was read. The door opened and two guards stood without. 

"Come," said one of them. For some reason, they both seemed shaken. Maybe the prosecutors had shown the jury the autopsy pictures again. Duo's spirits edged lower.

The boy scraped up the rags of his dignity. He nodded and rose. Refusing to cry, he walked out of the cell, past his silent guards and down the corridor. Outside the courtroom there was pandemonium, shouting and bright lights flashing.

Inside, however, it was dead quiet. The onlookers, the jury, everyone seemed breathless. Duo would not look at the corner of the room where the other gundam pilots sat. He could not look at Zechs, into whose vengeful hands his life would be given.

Heero!

Duo stumbled. Not only Heero, but Wildflower! He stared at them, trying to stop, but the momentum of his guards pushed him on.

Bailiffs took him to the dock and left him. Duo was oddly lightheaded, staring up at the judge. Was there sympathy in the lined face? For his youth, maybe, but he doubted if anyone in the room wasted a moment's compassion on Relena's murderer. 

It was so damn quiet!

The jury foreman rose, clearing his throat nervously. Duo realized suddenly he didn't want to see their faces when they read the sentence. He looked down at his shackled hands, his fists so tight he could feel his bitten nails cutting into his palms.

__

Be over. Please be over soon.

"Your honor, we the jury, upon considering the new evidence provided by Ms. -- Ms. Wildflower, agree that charges should be dropped. We hereby amend our verdict to not guilty."

Not guilty. The words sifted down through Duo's numbed brain. Not guilty. Not guilty.

There was a rushing in his ears. Had he heard wrong? He lifted his head to meet the jury foreman's anxious smile.

"Duo Maxwell," the judge said. "Your friends have just presented some evidence that, although highly unorthodox, was damned convincing. I feel I must warn you that this very unorthodoxy may result in legal challenges to the verdict, but it is the judgement of this court and jury that you are not guilty of the murder of Relena Peacecraft. You are hereby released from custody. Good luck to you, young man."

It was over. There was more, but Duo never heard it. The rushing became a roar. He thought he heard Heero call his name. The room dimmed and, without another word, he crumpled into a small heap on the floor and was still.

****

Heero sat outside the hospice room, head bowed, elbows on knees. The door opened. The attendant came out. She smiled gently on the boy who waited. He had been here every day religiously. She must think he was crazy, but Heero didn't care.

"Go on in," she said.

As always, Duo was in his chair in front of the window, chestnut hair brushed and carefully plaited into a short braid. He was a thin, motionless figure, his empty eyes fixed on the park outside. Heero pulled up a chair next to him.

According to Duo's docs, the drugs had been the worst in terms of physical damage -- four different, highly addictive substances force-fed to the boy on Elion. They'd done what they could to repair that, too. Like everything else, they told Heero, recovery was a matter of time and Duo's innate strength.

"Hi, Duo."

There was no answer, of course -- hadn't been one for nearly two months now. The others still came, too, but less frequently now.

"It's not Duo," Quatre had said finally. "It's a just an empty shell."

Heero had only nodded, but he came every day, regardless. Now he pulled over the wheeled table. Duo's dinner sat on it. Picking up a fork, Heero speared a carrot.

"Time to eat, Duo. Open."

Obediently, those pale lips parted and Duo took the carrot, chewing mechanically. His eyes never left the trees outside.

"SB won the math contest yesterday," Heero said. "He sent a letter. It's on your computer."

Duo accepted another carrot. Outside, a line of clouds swept across the sky. They were light and fluffy and would do little more then make the sunset spectacular.

"I got a look at Wildflower's new body. Guess what? It's male! Wildflower's a guy."

Heero kept talking as he fed his friend. He talked all the time now, if only to Duo. He told the other boy about the Preventers storming Elion, only to find Yamada dead, his throat slashed. Heero didn't dare reveal that Arcane had slipped through the net, that there were guards around the hospice because of it. But nothing Heero said elicited a reaction. Doggedly, he kept trying.

"I was talking to the doctors about you getting out of here for a little while," Heero said, "and maybe going somewhere for a day -- like Trowa's circus."

Another carrot. Not even a blink in response.

Heero felt a deep emptiness. He set down the fork and bowed his head. His eyes burned.

Duo stared off at something only he could see. His slim hands, once always in motion, sat idly in his lap. When the young American had regained consciousness in the courtroom he had been like this. Simply gone.

"He's hiding," Wildflower had told Heero, angry and accusing. "There's too much pain! He's forgotten that there's anything else!"

He wanted to take Duo into his arms and hold him, but he was afraid of what might happen. When Zechs had come to the hospice, Duo had become wild and agitated, crying, speaking incoherently, and finally had to be sedated. It was the resemblance to Arcane. Heero knew that and explained it to the devastated prince, but it had been little comfort.

If only Duo would smile again. 

Heero's throat closed and that odd, scratchy feeling in his eyes made him turn away, trying to swallow. Maybe he was doing more harm than good in coming here. Maybe Duo was hiding from _him_. The last meeting with the doctors, one of them had suggested it.

"Duo," Heero said finally, heartsick. "They told me maybe I shouldn't come any more. That I may be making it worse for you. Maybe they're right. I -- I didn't want to, but I think maybe I should do what they ..."

More words piled up in his throat, but it was too tight to let them pass. So Heero lifted Duo's limp hand from the denim-clad thigh and put it against his cheek. His vision blurred. He closed his eyes and tried to memorize the feel of Duo's skin against his, assailed mercilessly by memories of the two of them making love, laughing in the little kitchenette. 

Duo's cold, slender fingers tightened. Heero's heart stopped. He lifted his head. Violet eyes were fixed on his face. 

"Heero?" The low voice was little more than a rasp. 

"Duo?"

The other boy looked back at him, gaze very wide and confused. He made no effort to withdraw his hand from Heero's, only looked slowly, dazedly around.

"Am I in prison?" 

"No!" Heero replied, heart leaping. "Don't you remember? Wildflower showed them your memories -- you were found not guilty!"

"Not guilty? But you said I should confess..."

"No." Heero's voice shook and he slid from his chair to sink to his knees at Duo's feet. "I'm sorry, Duo. I'm so sorry. You didn't deserved any it."

Duo looked down at him, bewildered. "Not guilty," he said again, wonderingly. "Really, Heero?"

"Really."

Duo's head bowed. Tears seeped from under the long lashes. He abandoned his chair to join Heero on the floor. 

The doctors' opinions forgotten, Heero wrapped protective arms about him, mouth against his warm hair. He made no sound as he wept, none at all. Heero held him tightly, feeling the shudders that wracked the slight body. 

"Duo," Heero whispered over and over, "it's all right now. Everything's all right."

But it was not all right and might never be all right again. 

Suddenly Heero could no longer speak. A lifetime of harsh conditioning shattered and he, too, was crying. Someone opened the door, then hastily withdrew, shutting it again. Heero sat, Duo in his arms, tears running down his face, losing track of time, not caring about anything else. 

Finally, the other boy quieted. His shaking stopped. The slight body relaxed, becoming limp and heavy against Heero's. Making no effort to move away, he nestled closer, putting his head on Heero's shoulder. 

Heero rested his cheek against the soft hair. He heard his name, very faint.

"Shhhh," he said. 

After a long time, Heero drew back. Duo, eyes very wide on his face, lifted a hand to touch his wet cheeks. He said nothing. only looked back at Duo, words trembling on his lips -- so many words and he didn't know how to arrange them coherently. 

"You were crying." 

The Perfect Soldier gave a little shrug, trying for nonchalance and failing. Then, to his utter surprise, Duo leaned forward and kissed him on the mouth. 

"Duo..."

"You saved me."

"No. No..." Heero refused to accept that. Wiping his hand angrily across his eyes, he stood, holding out a hand to Duo and pulled the boy to his feet. When he would return Duo to his chair, however, Duo's fingers tightened in his.

"Do I live here? Do I have to stay?"

"No. Of course not! You're free. Where do you want to go?"

Releasing Heero, Duo walked to the window. He stood, looking down, arms braced against the window frame.

"Free?" he repeated. "It doesn't seem real. Like, any minute now, I'll wake up back in Zoe or -- or Elion. and everything will be the same. I have nothing. Where _can_ I go?"

"You can come home with me." 

"You sure?" Reflected in the glass, Duo's smile was sad, self-deprecating. "You don't have to feel sorry for me, ya know. I can find somethin', a mechanics job or -- or salvage again. It's not like I haven't had bad patches in my life before. I'll get by."

"Shut up, Duo."

Pale lips tightened. Duo wrapped his arms around himself. 

"I'll be back," Heero promised and flew from the room.

He returned with the doctors. Duo, sitting on the edge of this bed, greeted the sight of him with relief. The baka probably thought he'd been abandoned. 

Heero listened with half an ear to the docs. They were arguing with Duo, urging him to stay. Duo, however, kept shaking his head, looking more panicked by the second. 

"He's staying with me!" said Heero finally, voice sharp. "Leave him alone!"

They reluctantly backed down. The gratitude in his Duo's eyes was painful to see.

"He should come in for counseling. Please encourage him to do so."

Heero nodded, barely listening. All he wanted was get Duo away from this place. 

"Ready?" he asked now, looking at the other boy who stood, clutching a small bag containing all his worldly possessions.

"Yeah," replied Duo with a wan smile. "Lead on, buddy."

Heero smiled and refused to let the other boy see how much the pale attempt at lightheartedness hurt. It would be all right, he told himself fiercely. He would make sure of that, even if it took years.


	22. Part 21

The rain came down in sheets. Duo stood in front of the window and watched the water run down the glass. He heard a hoot from the kitchen. Trowa. Quatre's voice followed, merrily taunting. There was laughter. Duo turned away. A shining blonde head poked through the study door.

"See ya, guys!" Quatre called. "Don't oversleep!"

"Yeah, right," Duo returned. "Like I'm gonna miss out on free trip to Hawaii!"

Quatre's grin lit up the room. There was another shout from Trowa, impatient, and the young prince left. Duo heard the door slam. Barton was a lucky guy.

Behind him, Heero turned off the videogame, yawning. There was popcorn all over the floor where Quatre had kicked over the bowl.

"I'm off to bed," Heero announced, "See you in the morning."

Then he, too, was gone. Duo looked back at the rain, at the lights of the city in the distance, blurring into a scattering of haloes.

There were moments still when the past came back to him. He was getting better at handling those memories, but even so, after almost a year... 

Leaning his head against the glass, Duo closed his eyes. Heero had asked him only once to make love. Duo had agreed immediately, wanting it as much as Heero. Then, in bed, to his own complete mystification and embarrassment, he'd panicked. No. Panic was too small a word. Duo had gone stark, raving gonzo with tears and curses and apologies that had ended in outright hysteria. Heero hadn't asked again.

His shrinks told Duo it was to be expected. Here, away from the danger, away from his desperate scrabble to survive, his true feelings would gradually come out -- all the horror any sane person would feel after being brutalized so thoroughly and for so long. 

"But I _love_ Heero!" he'd confessed, anguished.

"It doesn't matter," they'd replied. "It will take time, Duo. Experiences like yours can leave scars so deep that recovery takes years. You'll have to work at it, but you're strong. Don't give up."

They must have told Heero that, too, because he had never once stopped being kind, patient and protective. It was so _unlike_ the Heero Duo remembered that he sometimes wondered if he was living with the same man. He'd even spent the first few weeks pushing the other pilot, being a complete and utter asshole, trying to prove --- God knows what.

He turned from the window and made his way through the spacious apartment. It was the kind of place that Heero was least likely to keep, but Duo loved it and, as he was coming to suspect, that was why they were here instead of the small, utilitarian Preventor apartments downtown. Hell, Duo thought with a sudden grin, the Perfect Soldier had actually brought home a picture the other day and stuck it on the wall.

Duo rounded the corner. Ahead were the bedrooms, his and Heero's. As always, Heero's door was slightly ajar. Duo stopped, just like he did every night when the other boy went to bed first. He stared at it.

__

Try, Duo. One step at a time. I promise that the rewards will be infinite.

Wildflower's words. Shit. No. Not Wildflower anymore. It was Wilder now. 

He should listen to his alien friend, damn it. After all, Wilder had been in his freakin' mind -- and the doctors, too, although in a different kind of way.

And still Duo hesitated, staring at the door. Outside, thunder rumbled. His heart began its painful pounding. His mouth went dry as bone. The hand he lifted shook. 

Mistakemistakemistakemistake, screamed his mind, lost to sense.

He pushed it open. Lightning flashed, illuminating Heero's room. The computer was on, numbers scrolling endlessly past on the screen. Duo saw the dresser and the bed, everything neat as a pin. Heero was a lump under the covers, spikes of black hair stark against the white pillow case. Duo swallowed hard and started to close the door, nerve failing him.

"Duo?"

Heero sat up. The blankets slid off and Duo caught his breath at the sight of the beautiful young man, at the steadily broadening shoulders, the smooth, muscular chest.

"Duo, are you all right?" 

Alarm was in the deep voice. Heero swept aside the blankets, swinging long legs over the side of the bed. He was wearing only briefs. 

"I -- um -- I..."

This was the worst of it for Duo, wanting Heero and knowing that the minute he tried to act on those feelings, they just evaporated.

"Is it the storm?"

"Nah. I kinda like it -- all the chaos and the noise. Reminds me of old times, ya know, with the battles and all..."

Duo's voice trailed away. He sounded banal, even to himself. He took a deep breath and summoned a cocky smile, pretending it didn't desperately matter.

"Actually -- I was kinda wonderin' if you'd like some company tonight. I mean just, ya know, sleeping. I don't think I'm ready for anything else yet, but I figured -- hell -- gotta start somewhere, huh?" The words tumbled out. Babbling. He was fucking babbling. Duo began to back away. "I -- never mind. Sorry. It was a dumb idea."

"I'd like that. Just sleeping."

Words fled. Duo stood, trembling.

"I won't hurt you, Duo, never on purpose. And if I do, you've got to tell me, because sometimes I just don't know my own strength." 

"Sheesh. Never noticed."

Heero grinned, but made no move to get off the bed. He waited, knowing as well as Duo that it had to be Duo's decision.

"I want you," Heero admitted. "But I can wait. As long as it takes, Duo -- honest."

"Really?" Duo's throat was tight. He tried for the grin again, but it had fled. "Are you sure?"

Heero nodded solemnly and lay back down, moving over to the side of the bed, holding back the covers.

Duo walked to the bed and sat, taking off his shirt, then his jeans. He lay down on his side of the mattress, pulling the covers up to his chin. He thought about Elion, about Arcane, who was still at large, about Yamada killed by his cruel, dangerous lover. He thought about Heero and the tiny apartment on Elion, about the other boy's mouth on his. Duo took breath after shaking breath.

"So," Heero said. "What do you want to do while we're in Hawaii?"

Gratefully, Duo seized on that safe topic. It helped that the room was dark and that Heero couldn't see his face. 

"Probably just lay on the beach and give myself skin cancer. You?"

"I'd like to go surfing. Have you ever done that?"

"Me? Hell, no. You?"

"No."

"Wow, something you've never done."

"I'm not superman, Duo."

"Coulda fooled me."

Oh, God. There he went again.

"You're tougher than I am." Heero's quiet voice was matter-of-fact.

"Yeah, right."

Little by little, the fear receded. It was easier to breathe. He said, "Sorry. Didn't mean it the way it sounded."

"That's okay."

Silence fell between them. The storm was moving away, the lightning less frequent, thunder a fading rumble. Only the rain kept up, hissing against the glass of Heero's big window. Duo rolled onto his side, facing the other boy. In the diminishing flicker of the lightning, he saw Heero looking up at the ceiling, arms loose at his sides on the blanket.

Hesitantly, Duo put his hand over Heero's. The dark-haired boy looked over at him, startled.

"I -- do you mind?" Duo asked, immediately assailed by doubt and insecurity.

The look on Heero's face was so glad that even Quatre's gigawatt smile paled in comparison.

"Of course not." His fingers laced through Duo's, loose, easily shaken off. "Whatever you want."

__

Whatever I want. What I want is to make love to you, to feel you inside me, to kiss you until you can't say anything but my name.

One step at a time.

Duo took a deep breath. Heero's fingers tightened briefly.

"I've always liked you, you know," Heero said quietly, looking back at the ceiling. "Even in the old days when I used to call you names -- I liked you."

"Yeah, I liked you, too. Except when you cannibalized Deathscythe to fix Wing that time. Then I woulda kicked your ass, no problem."

The silence this time was less threatening somehow. Duo's heart rate had almost returned to normal. 

"You could never kick my ass," Heero said finally. There was laughter in his voice. His hand was warm and hard in Duo's.

"Maybe not, but I bet I could do some major damage."

"You'd try like hell," agreed Heero. "That's one thing about you. You don't know when to give up."

"Yeah." 

Another silence. The rain was slowing, barely a whisper on the glass. 

"Don't give up on us, okay?" Heero asked.

Something warm wrapped itself around Duo's mending heart.

"I won't if you won't," he whispered and, daringly, brought Heero's fingers to his lips. 

"Deal." The new Heero-smile widened. He took his hand away long enough to touch Duo's face before returning it. 

"However long it takes. I meant it."

One step at a time, Duo thought drowsily. 

Hand in hand they slept.

The End


End file.
